By IANS
Reggio Emilia (Italy) : Pentala Harikrishna registered his second win in the 50th Reggio Emilio Grandmasters tournament with a comprehensive 43-move win over David Narra to join three others in a joint lead after four rounds in the nine-round category 16 event.
Harikrishna, who began the tournament with a loss to Hungary’s Zoltan Almasi, has since picked up 2.5 points with two wins and one draw. He shares the lead wit Almasi, Russia’s Konstantin Landa and Azerbaijan’s Vugar Gashimov.
Harikrishna, with white played solidly, never allowed Narra to get into the game. In the end game, Harikrishna was a clear pawn and his four pawns were all well placed too. Narra resigned when he realised he had no chance.
Almasi drew his fourth round game with Landa. Both now have 2.5 points each. They drew in just 18 moves. Another short draw saw Mihail Marin of Romania hold Gashimov. Gashimov now has 2.5 points and is among the group of four leaders.
In the other matches, Viktor Korchnoi of Switzerland drew with China’s Ni Hua in 53 moves and Sergei Tiviakov of the Netherlands beat Michele Godena in just 29 moves.