Date:02/11/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/11/02/stories/2006110209592300.htm

Sport - Chess

Hari loses close battle

NEW DELHI: P. Hari Krishna blundered his way to a 19-move defeat in the decisive seventh game against Ukraine's Andrei Volokitin and lost 3-4 in the quarterfinals of the 7th Cap d'Agde Masters rapid chess tournament at Cap d'Agde, France, late on Tuesday night.

The two 25-minute games ended in draws. Thereafter, in the blitz games, the players won alternatively with white pieces before Volokitin clinched the decider.

In the seventh game, since Hari was playing black with five minutes of thinking time as compared to Volokitin's six, a draw would have been enough for the Indian to advance to the semifinal.

The victory earned Volokitin a semifinal clash against top seed Teimour Radjabov. In the other semifinal, Ukraine's Sergey Karjakin will meet Norway's Magnus Carlsen.

The results (quarterfinals): Sergey Karjakin (Ukr) bt Zhao Xue (Chn) 2.5-1.5; Teimour Radjabov (Aze) bt Etienne Bacrot (Fra) 2-0; Magnus Carlsen (Nor) bt Laurent Fressinet (Fra) 2-0; Andrei Volokitin (Ukr) bt P. Hari Krishna (Ind) 4-3.