New Delhi: Krishnan Sasikiran's winning run came to an end as he was held to a draw by Wesley So of the Philippines, while Parimarjan Negi lost to junior world number one Fabiano Caruana of Italy in the sixth round of the AAI Grandmasters Chess here on Tuesday.
Sasi, with 3.5 points, is lying third, and Negi has 1.5 points.
Caruna stretched his lead to a full point as he beat Negi after a marathon 98 moves. The Italian now has five points and is a full point clear of Viktor Laznicka, who drew with women's world champion Hou Yifan.
Sasikiran, who lost to So in the first leg of the tournament, was unable to avenge that defeat as they drew the Anti-Meran in 50 moves.
"I think I was better out of the opening and the exchange sacrifice seemed good, but it didn't quite work. But he gave back that exchange sacrifice and overall the result was okay," said Sasikiran.
Negi suffered his second loss of the tournament at the hands of Caruana, who had beaten him in the opening round.
In a Sicilian Najdorf, Caruana, with white, was determined to keep the advantage.
But Negi did have the clock on his side and the position looked fine for him. He had a lot of time advantage over his rival, but just then he made a mistake in the middle game.
Into the middle game, Caruana used his experience as Negi sought a risky route.
Caruana sacrificed a queen for three pieces and then kept pushing the Indian back. Negi, for his part, knew he was fighting a losing battle.
He finally resigned after 98 moves and after both players queened their pawn. Negi had two queens to Caruana's queen and three pieces. Caruana kept his advantage intact and eked out a fine win.
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