Harikrishna holds Vaganian in first round of Biel chess festival

Biel (Switzerland), July 25 (IANS) After finishing runner-up in the Rapid Tournament, Indian Grand Master Pentala Harikrishna held Armenian Grand Master Rafael Vaganian to a draw in the first round of the Grand Master tournament at the 50th Biel Chess Festival here.

The World No.20 Indian, playing with black pieces on Monday, started aggressively and placed a check on his opponent in the 12th move itself.

However, he had his Queen gambit declined as the Armenian realised the danger and had to turn to his defensive best to lead the game towards neutral territory.

"Even though I got into an attacking position in the initial moments of the game, my opponent played an interesting idea on the board and that led to repeating moves so that either of us didn't get into worse positions," the 31-year-old from Guntur said after his first-round encounter.

Harikrishna will look to bounce back to winning ways as he takes on local player Nico Georgiadis in his second-round battle of the round-robin tournament.

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