Indian Grand Master Pentala Harikrishna held English GM Michael Adams to a hard-fought draw in the second round encounter of the Geneva FIDE Grand Prix here at the Le Richemond Hotel late on Friday night.
The World No. 22 Indian, playing with white pieces, started off aggressively and got into a better position but was pushed on to the back foot courtesy of a few clever moves from Adams.
Even though the Englishman had a slight advantage over Harikrishna, he could not find any inroads and with time running out the players eventually decided to share the spoils.
“I had an advantage in the initial moments of the game with a better position and then he gained a slight advantage,” Harikrishna said. “He offered a draw in a slightly better position for him and I accepted,” he added after the game which lasted for 38 moves.
With one and half points,Harikrishna is currently tied second on the leaderboard.He will now take on the World No. 6 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov from Azerbaijan in his next round clash.
“I have played against him several times before, recently a few months ago in Shamkir which ended up in stalemate. It is always interesting to play against a player of his caliber,” the Guntur lad concluded.