Indian Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran drew his sixth round encounter against Grandmaster Lenier Dominguez of Cuba in the most exciting game of the Aerosvit International Grandmasters chess tournament.
It was a day of draws as all the six games ended with the players splitting the point. The tournament standings thus remain unchanged with Ukrainian Grandmaster Sergei Karjakin leading the field, closely followed by his compatriot Vassily Ivanchuk.
Top seed Peter Svidler strived hard to dislodge Sergei Karjakin from his leading position but had to remain content with a draw.
Svidler played a topical line against the Slav Defence and a complicated middle game position was reached. Karjakin managed to hold his own in the tactical tussle and equalised with a well-timed pawn break in the centre.
Svidler managed to win a pawn but the resultant endgame was clearly drawn due to the presence of opposite coloured bishops. The players agreed to split the point after 29 moves.
Results (Round 6): Peter Svidler (Rus, 3) drew Sergey Karjakin (Ukr, 4); Loek van Wely (Ned, 3) drew Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr, 3.5); Sergei Rublevsky (Rus, 3) drew Alexander Onischuk (US, 3); Pavel Eljanov (Ukr, 3) drew Dmitry Jakovenko (Rus, 3); Lenier Dominguez (Cuba, 3) drew Krishnan Sasikiran (Ind, 2.5); Alexei Shirov (Esp, 3) drew Liviu Deiter Nisipeanu (Rom, 2).