World Junior champion P Harikrishna settled for a draw with Grandmaster Izoria Zviad of Georgia in the fifth round of 15th Ciudad De Pamplona International chess tournament underway in Spain.
After the draw, the Indian was joined at the top by former world champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine who defeated GM Jan Timman of Netherlands.
On a day full of good contests, GM Sergei Tiviakov of Holland got the better of Andorran GM Oscar De la Riva Aguado to jump to joint third spot where he now has the company of Ivan Cheparinov who drew with Laurent Fressinet of France in the fifth round.
With only two rounds remaining, Harikrishna is sitting pretty with 3.5 points along with Ponomariov. Tiviakov and Cheparinov have 3 points apiece while Zviad and Fressinet are next in line on 2.5. Timman and Aguado are at the bottom of the tables having just one point each.
In the last two rounds, third seed Harikrishna is slated to play Tiviakov and Poinomariov - the two seeds at the event.
For Harikrishna, the draw as black came easy. Off late, the Hyderabad-based player has been working hard on his openings and the game against Zviad was an indication.
Playing the Slav Defence, Harikrishna came with a relatively new idea as early as on move four and Zviad was not prepared for the same.
Playing solidly in the early phase of the game, Harikrishna denied white any advantage with his impeccable technical style - trading a set of minor piece and queen quickly in the opening itself.
