Harikrishna get the better of Vocaturo; in sight of title

Wijk Aan Zee: Asian champion P Harikrishna made another stride towards his maiden title in the Group B of Tata Steel chess tournament by beating Daniele Vocaturo of Italy in the tenth round.

With his sixth victory in the tournament, Harikrishna now has eight points out of a possible ten and stayed a full point ahead of Grandmaster Alexander Motylev of Russia who defeated Ernst Sipke of Holland and local star Erwin L`Ami who won a marathon against Viktorija Cmilyte of Lithuania. On her part, D Harika easily held legendary GM Jan Timman to a draw. It turned out to be a good day for Tania Sachdev also in Group C as she scored her first victory at the expense of Lisa Schut of Holland. Lars Ootes found the going tough and lost to Sahaj Grover, while B Adhiban was held to a draw by lowest ranked Etienne Goudriaan. Maxim Turov of Russia surged ahead in this section following a quick draw with Elisabeth Paehtz of Germany. In the shocker of the day, Pieter Hopman defeated overnight joint leader Hans Tikkanen of Holland. With Turov in front on eight points, Tikkanen follows him a half point behind, while Adhiban is another half point adrift on seven points. Sahaj Grover shares the fourth spot on six points while Tania Sachdev has 4.5 points now. In the premier Group A, Levon Aronian of Armenia continued his winning ways and downed young Dutchman Anish Giri. For Giri it was the third straight loss in the tournament that put him out of contention. PTI