By IANS
Reggio Emilio (Italy) : Pentala Harikrishna was held to a 31-move draw by lower rated Mihail Marin of Romania, as all five games in the sixth round of the Reggio Emilio Grandmasters chess tournament ended without a result Thursday.
Harikrishna, who had 3.5 points from six games, now trails the leader Zoltan Almasi of Hungary by half a point. In fact with all games ending in draws, the points position remained unchanged.
Harikrishna’s game with Marin was in the queen’s gambit declined. They went into the Slav defence with exchange variation.
With black playing the perfect defence, white (Marin) had few chances and the duo agreed to a draw. The draw was a disappointment for Hari, who is rated at 2668, more than 100 elo points above Marin (2551).
In the seventh round, Harikrishna will play veteran Viktor Korchnoi, who is half a point behind him, after a sixth round draw with Vugar Gashimov.
Results of sixth round: Marin drew with Harikrishna; Korchnoi drew with Gashimov; Tiviakov drew with Navara; Landa drew with Ni Hua; Almasi drew with Godena.
Standings after sixth round: 1. Almasi (Hun) 4 points; 2-5. Gashimov (Aze), Landa (Rus), Harikrishna (Ind) and Ni Hua (Chn) 3.5 points; 6-9. Korchnoi (Swi), Marin (Rom), Tiviakov (Ned) and Navara (Ita) 2.5 points; 10. Godena (Fra) 2 points