Harikrishna closes gap with leader

World junior champion Pendyala Harikrishna bounced back into the reckoning with a crushing victory over Grandmaster Lenier Dominguez of Cuba in the ninth and penultimate round of the International invitational chess tournament in Bermuda.

After a rather lacklustre loss to Boris Gelfand in the previous round, Harikrishna played chanceless chess and was clearly the superior player against Dominiguez.

The Indian elevated himself to sole second spot in the tournament with one round still to play in this category-19 double round-robin tournament.

On another top board, GM Boris Gelfand of Israel maintained his lead despite a draw with Ukraine champion Andrei Volokitin after a none-too-eventful match.

The third place is now jointly shared by Giovanni Vescovi of Brazil and Dominguez on 4.5 points while Volokitin is next in line with 4 points, half-a-point clear of Bartlomiej Macieja of Poland.

The stage is now set for a nail-biting finale as in the final round Harikrishna will take on tail-ender Macieja while Gelfand has to tackle Dominguez.

The other encounter is between Vescovi and Volokitin with the former having an outside chance of catching up with the leaders.

Harikrishna was a class act in cruising past Dominguez, who was half a point ahead of the Indian at the start of this round.

Playing white, Harikrishna made most of the opportunities as Dominiguez, black, was outdone in English opening that transposed to a Caro Kann defence.

Earlier, in the seventh round too, the same variation had led to Dominguez's downfall against Macieja and the Cuban apparently had not been able to find correct retort against white's plan.

Harikrishna followed Macieja's moves till Dominguez deviated on his 17th turn and thereafter the Indian was at his tactical best in ripping apart black's kingside.

Dominguez watched haplessly as Harikrishna's queen and rook swung into action to win an exchange by force and knocked down black's queen side pawns also. The game lasted 46 moves.

Gelfand drew with Volokitin without much bloodshed. Playing the white side of a Symmetrical English opening, Gelfand faced the Hedge-Hogg set up and some original ideas by his younger opponent.

On the 17th move the queens got traded and 13 moves later the peace was signed.

Vescovi could not do much with white against Macieja, who started with Sicilian defence. Playing a side variation, Vescovi got a semblance of an advantage with greater control of space but the Polish neutralised white's initiative with some timely exchanges leading to a level rook and minor piece endgame.

Vescovi decided on the 29th move that there was little hope for a favourable outcome and the truce was immediately signed.

Results round 9: Boris Gelfand (Isr, 5.5) drew with Andrei Volokitin (Ukr, 4); P Harikrishna (Ind, 5) beat Lenier Dominguez (Cub, 4.5); Giovanni Vescovi (Bra, 4.5) drew with Bartlomiej Macieja (Pol, 3.5).

The moves:
P Harikrishna v/s Lenier Dominguez

1. c4 c6 2. e4 d5 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. exd5 Nf6 5. Qa4+ Nbd7 6. Nc3 g6 7. Nf3 Bg7 8. Bc4 O-O 9. d3 a6 10. Qa3 b6 11. O-O Bb7 12. Re1 Re8 13. Ng5 b5 14. Bb3 Nb6 15. d6 e6 16. Nge4 Nbd7 17. Nxf6+ Nxf6 18. Qb4 Bc6 19. Bg5 h6 20. Bh4 g5 21. Bg3 Qb6 22. Ne4 Nh5 23. Rac1 Nxg3 24. Nxg3 Red8 25. h4 Be8 26. hxg5 hxg5 27. Qg4 Rxd6 28. Qxg5 Qd8 29. Qg4 Kf8 30. Nh5 Bxb2 31. Rc5 Qb6 32. Rg5 Qd4 33. Nf4 e5 34. Rg8+ Ke7 35. Bxf7 Bxf7 36. Rxa8 Rf6 37. Re4 Qb6 38. Qg7 Kd7 39. Ra7+ Qxa7 40. Qxf6 Kc8 41. Ne6 Qd7 42. Nc5 Qd5 43. Qxa6+ Kd8 44. Qxb5 Bd4 45. Qb8+ Ke7 46. Qc7+ black resigned.