P Harikrishna celebrated his Arjuna award in great style, beating Chinese woman Grandmaster Hou Yifan in the fifth round to rise to the joint third spot in the Marx Gyorgy memorial International chess tournament here.

The defending champion cruised past Yifan to register his first victory in the category-14 double round robin tournament.

The Indian proved his mettle against Yifan who played the white side of a Ruy Lopez.

Yifan fell in to troubles in the middle game when Harikrishna got a much better Knight against the Bishop. Harikrishna showed clinical precision and exchanged the queens at the right moment to enhance his advantage in the ensuing endgame. Losing a pawn, Yifan resigned after 50 moves when Harikrishna's king marched in to white's territory.

Attacking prowess
If Harikrishna showed his superior technique, Korchnoi displayed his attacking prowess to get the better of Berkes.

The Grunfeld defence saw Berkes struggling with black pieces after an off beat variation and once Korchnoi had his forces set, he set himself out for the final demolition in style.

Berkes lost a couple of pawns while trying to negotiate white's attack and never recovered.

Peter Acs played an imaginative game to beat Balogh from the black side of a Ruy Lopez.