On Thursday, Indian Grand Master Pentala Harikrishna’s unbeaten run at the Biel Chess Festival came to an end as he lost to Frenchman Etienne Bacrot in the final round to finish third in the standings.
Harikrishna, playing with white pieces, began aggressively but a simple error cost him the match. Harikrishna tried his best to save the game but was unsuccessful as the Frenchman outclassed him in the 29th move.
“It was a simple error in the starting of the game which was the cause of my loss,” Harikrishna said. “It is a bit disappointing as this happened in the very last round of the tournament,” he added.
The 31-year-old from Guntur was unbeaten in eight rounds and registered three wins, five draws. However, his loss to Bacrot in the last round proved to be the difference as he missed the top spot by a whisker. Nonetheless, Harikrishna managed to finish third on the podium behind Bacrot and former two-time World Women’s Chess Champion Hou Yifan, who took the top spot.
Harikrishna will now shift his focus on the World Cup which is going to be held in Georgia from September 2. The World Cup will feature all the top players in the World such as top seed Magnus Carlsen and India’s No. 1 Vishwanathan Anand, among others.
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