Harikrishna survives game one, now has a chance to knockout Wesley So

by Sagar Shah - 13/07/2019

The Grand Prix last year used to be filled with a lot of draws, but this year in 2019, since the format has changed to knock out, it has become extremely interesting. After the first one was won by Ian Nepomniachtchi in Moscow, the second leg of the Grand Prix has begun in Riga, Latvia. It is particularly interesting for Indian fans as Harikrishna is fighting it out against world no.4 Wesley So. The players fight it out in two games with classical time control and if it ends in a 1-1 draw, then we move to rapid, followed by blitz and finally an armageddon game to decide the outcome. In the first game of the mini-match, Harikrishna managed to hold his own and drew the game with black pieces. But what an amazing game it was! Let's have a look.

All 16 players captured in one frame! Although Aronian's red pants do stand out!

Result of round 1.1

Hari has a pretty tough opponent in round one in the form of Wesley So

Hari managed to create some deadly threats against the white king. It seemed as if he had excellent attacking chances, but Wesley defended well.

When Hari played Rg2+ he knew that he was going to be worse after Qxg2 Nxg2 and Kxg2. However, coordinating three pieces under time pressure is never easy. Hari managed to save the game by the skin of his teeth!

Check out the instructive annotations: