BIEL: Indian Grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna registered a scintillating victory over former FIDE World Chess champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine in the eighth round to consolidate his position at the top of the table in the 50th Biel Chess Festival, here.
The world no. 20 Indian, playing with black pieces, got off to a great start and seized the momentum and forced the Ukranian Grandmaster to commit a mistake in the early stages of the game. Ruslan tried to launch a comeback, but could not mount enough pressure and with time rolling on, he finally threw in the towel after 58 moves.
"I got a nice position from the initial phases, but he went wrong with the b3 move and I gradually converted that mistake into a winning position for me," Harikrishna said after the game. With just one round to go, Harikrishna shares the top spot with former three-time women's World champion Hou Yifan of China. He has his sight set firmly on the championship and is eager to go out all guns blazing in the last round against Etienne Bacrot of France.
"We both have the same number of points and only the results in the final round will judge the winner. I am looking forward to give my best shot and win the tournament,” Harikrishna said.