Pentala Harikrishna finishes 10th at Moscow chess meet

Pentala Harikrishna chessMoscow: Indian Grand Master Pentala Harikrishna finished 10th on the leader board at the Moscow FIDE Grand Prix with a total of 4.5 points after nine rounds to gain 10 Grand Prix points.

Playing with white pieces on Sunday, the Hyderabadi lad began on an aggressive note but with his opponent GM Teimour Radjabov equally up to the task, he could not create a favourable opening.

With time running out, the World No.16 Indian and his opponent decided to share points after 29 moves.

At the end of nine rounds, Harikrishna amassed a total of 4.5 points to gain 30 Grand Prix points as well as bagging a prize money of 5,000 Euros ($5,623).

"It was a tough event, I could've done better had I avoided the loss against Boris Gelfand," Harikrishna said after the match.

"It was a nice experience and I hope to do better in the remaining two stages of the Grand Prix," he added.

Harikrishna will now lead the Indian challenge in the third leg of the FIDE Grand Prix when he takes on some of the best chess players in Geneva next month and continues his quest for a spot at the Candidates Tournament.