Harikrishna Ties For Second Place
By Arvind Aaron
World junior champion Pentyala Harikrishna tied for the second place in the $500,000 HB Global Chess Challenge at Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States on Sunday. Harikrishna remained undefeated with seven points from nine rounds.
The 127-player nine round Swiss format event was won by Grand Master Zviad Izoria of Georgia with 7.5 points. Over 50 grandmasters competed in the event which ran from May 18-22.
Among those whom Harikrishna tied for the second place was Gata Kamsky (USA) who is making a serious comeback into professional chess. Harikrishna's seven points came from wins against A.Vuilleumier (USA), Andres Santalla (USA), draw with Darwin Laylo (Phi), win against Alan Stein (USA), draws with A.Onischuk (USA), A.Motylev (Rus), A.Moiseenko (Ukr), wins against A.Rodriguez (Uru), A.Stripunsky (USA).
Two other Indians also took part. International Master P.Magesh Chandran from Madurai who is also a student in the United States scored six points from nine rounds. Woman Grand Master Swati Ghate of LIC, Pune scored five points and lost to Magesh in the last round. Magesh finished 47th place and Swati Ghate finished 101st in the very strong field comprising many American and East European grandmasters.