By IANS
Reggio Emilia (Italy) : Pentala Harikrishna, who has a very busy schedule over the next few months, rounded off the 50th edition of the Reggio Emilia Grandmasters chess tournament with a fine 29-move win over Russian Grandmaster Konstantin Landa to finish in a tie for second place.
Harikrishna, who tallied 5.5 points in the nine-round tournament, finished half a point behind Zoltan Almasi, who was the only player to beat the Indian. Sharing the second place with Hari were Ni Hua of China and Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan.
In the ninth round, Harikrishna had white pieces and broke through Landa’s defence and crushed him for a win in just 29 moves. The win over Landa was Harikrishna’s third win of the tournament. He drew five other games and lost one.
Landa was fifth with 4.5 points. Veteran Viktor Korchnoi of Switzerland and Italian GM David Navara scored four points each in tied sixth place. Mihail Marin of Romania and Sergei Tiviakov of Netherlands were tied for eighth with 3.5 points and Michele Godena of France brought up the rear with three points.
Results of 10th round:
Gashimov drew with Almasi; Harikrishna beat Landa; Ni Hua drew with Marin;
Navara beat Godena; Kortchnoi drew with Tiviakov
Final standings:
1. Almasi (Hun) 6;
2. Harikrishna (Ind), Ni Hua (Chn) and Gashimov (Aze) – 5.5 points
5. Landa (Rus) 4.5 points
6. Korchnoi (Swi) and Marin (Rom) 4 points
8. Tiviakov (Ned) and Navara (Ita) 3.5 points
10. Godena (Fra) 3 points