Grandmaster P Harikrishna took unwarranted risk but finally drew with Romanian GM Mihail Marin in the sixth round of the 50th Reggio Emilia International Chess tournament here.

With three draws, two win and a loss against Zoltan Almasi of Hungary, Harikrishna took his tally to 3.5 points out of a possible 6 and remained in joint second spot.

Harikrishna, began a bit cautiously, was quite surprised by the peaceful intentions of Marin when the latter went for the exchange variation in the Slav defense as white which largely has a drawing reputation.

Initially, the Hyderabad-based was not much deterred and went for complications in trying to keep the position alive in the middle game.

Marin, on the other hand, maintained his cool and played correct moves to keep the balance intact and when Harikrishna pressed harder, the Romanian stood better.

In the end, Harikrishna had to find the equaliser by way of exchanges that led to an equal endgame where draw was a just result. The game lasted 33 moves.