By IANS,
Lubbock (Texas) : Pentala Harikrishna playing with black pieces drew his eighth and penultimate round with joint-leader Leonid Kritz to stay in shared third place at the SPICE Cup invitational chess tournament Saturday.
The Indian, a former World Junior chess champion, has not lost but drawn seven of his eight games and won one. With a total of 4.5 points, Hari is one full point behind German Leonid Kritz and Varuzhan Aokbian of the US.
Hari could join the leaders in shared first place, if Akobian and Kritz draw their last round match and Hari beats Gregory Kaidanov.
Round 8 results: Kritz drew with Pentala; Mikhalevski drew with Akobian; Kaidanov drew with Onischuk; Becerra drew with Perelshteyn; Stefansson beat Miton
Standings after eight rounds: 1-2. Varuzhan Akobian, GM 2610 USA and Leonid Kritz, GM 2610 GER 5.0 each; 3-6. Victor vGM 2592 ISR, Alexander Onischuk, GM 2670 USA; Julio Becerra, GM 2598 USA; and Pentala Harikrishna GM 2668 IND 4.5 each; 7. Gregory Kaidanov, GM 2605 USA 3.5 8-9. Kamil Miton, GM 2580 POL and Eugene Perelshteyn, GM 2555 USA 3.0 each; 10. Hannes Stefansson, GM 2566 ISL 2.5
Final round pairings: Akobian (5) v Kritz (5); Perelshteyn (3) v Mikhalevski (4.5); Miton (3) v Becerra (4.5); Onischuk (4.5) v Stefansson (2.5); Pentala (4.5) v Kaidanov (3.5)