After finishing runners-up in the Rapid Tournament on Monday, Indian Grand Master Pentala Harikrishna held Armenian Grand Master Rafael Vaganian to a draw in the first round of the Grand Master Tournament at the 50th Biel Chess Festival late on Monday night.
The 20th-ranked Indian, playing with black pieces, started off aggressively and placed a check on his opponent in the 12th move itself. However, he had his Queen gambit declined as the Armenian realized the danger and had to turn to his defensive best to lead the game towards neutral territory.
“Even though I got into an attacking position in the initial moments of the game, my opponent played an interesting idea on the board and that led to repeating moves so that either of us didn’t get into worse positions,” the 31-year-old from Guntur said after his first-round encounter.
Harikrishna will next face local lad Nico Georgiadis in the second-round of the round-robin tournament.