India's Grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna held off a strong challenge from Grandmaster Anish Giri of Netherlands to consolidate his eighth position after round 11 in the Tata Steel Chess tournament here.
The game that lasted for over two hours on Friday night saw the World No. 11 Indian engage in a tense battle and secure a crucial half point from the outing. He now has a total tally of 5.5 points with two more rounds to play.
Harikrishna, starting in black found himself in trouble initially and his German opponent got into winning position. But mistakes from Anish saw help the Indian get back into the game and even though at the end it was Harikrishna who was in a comfortable position, the players had to settle for a draw due to lack of time.
"Anish played strong novelty and got into winning position. But mistakes from him as well as me saw the game drift away. I got into better during the end moments of the game but still had to settle for a draw as the time was running out," Harikrishna said.
The Indian star, with an ELO of 2770, has won one, drew nine while losing one game in the campaign so far.
Harikrishna will now take on the Hungarian Grandmaster Richard Rapport in his next round on Saturday night.
Tata Steel Chess is an elite tournament in this northern town of The Netherlands, popularly known as the Wimbledon of chess. In the Masters section, 14 Grand Masters pit their brains against each other in 13 rounds.
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