In what turned out to be a disappointing day for India, Grandmasters Krishnan Sasikiran and Pentyala Hai Krishna suffered shock defeats in the eighth and penultimate round of the premier 65th Hastings International Chess Congress in Hastings (England).
Sasikiran suffered a rather uncharacteristic loss, going down to Grandmaster Luke McShane of England while Hari Krishna also failed to keep the momentum and lost to second seed GM Peter Heine Nielsen of Denmark who regained the sole lead after his second win on the trot.
Nielsen (5.5 points) is followed by GM Keith Arkell of England who is half a point behind.
GM Alexei Barsov of Uzbekistan, world's youngest ever GM Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine, McShane and Hari Krishna jointly shared the third position with 4.5 points each.
Sasikiran slumped to joint seventh position along with English GM Glenn Flear with 4 points.
Playing black against McShane, Sasikiran faced a closed set up after opening with the Sicilian Defence. Knowing McShane's expertise in this particular opening, Sasikiran apparently came well-armed and achieved a dynamic balance in the middle game quite easily.
However, Sasikiran's form betrayed him once again as McShane went for a direct attack against the king, guiding
all his pieces to kingside and then opening up the position with a thematic pawn roll. Up against an irresistible attack,
Sasikiran fell prey to simple mating bait laid by McShane.
The game lasted just 36 moves.
