TBILISI: Indian Grand Master Pentala Harikrishna defeated GM Yuri Gonzalez Vidal of Cuba in
the tie-breaker to progress to the second round of the FIDE World Cup, here.
Harikrishna, who won the second game against Vidal to win take the first round contest into the tie-breaker, will now play against compatriot SP Sethuraman in the next round. The 20th seeded Indian, started off the first rapid game with black pieces and had to settle for a draw against the Cuban.
The next two rapid games yielded the same results for both the players who were not ready to give an inch of space to each other. Even though the fourth rapid game, where Harikrishna was playing with white pieces, started off on a defensive note, the Hyderabadi measured his moves precisely and eventually made inroads to put the Cuban under immense pressure.
Thereafter, it was all about the Indian's attacking prowess as he made Vidal succumb to the pressure and placed a check mate on the Cuban's king after 46 moves."It was tough during the first three rapid games but after the 20th move in the fourth game, I got an advantage and kept the pressure on my opponent which gave me a win," an ecstatic Harikrishna said.