Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran crashed through the defences of GM Tiger Hillarp Persson of Sweden to join Dutchman GM Jan Timman in the lead after the conclusion of the eighth and penultimate round of the Sigeman & Co. chess tournament in Copenhagen.

Top seed Hikaru Nakamura of the United States failed to break the defences of Timman on another eventful day and is now out of the race for the top spot in this category-13 event.

While both leaders are on six points apiece, Nakamura is a distant third on five points along with GM Curt Hansen of Denmark. Next in line are Danish International Master Davor Palo, GM Viorel Iordachescu of Moldova and GM Jonny Hector of Sweden with four points each.

M Sune Berg Hansen is yet to find his form and is struggling on three points while the Swedish duo of Emil Hermansson and Persson remain at the bottom of the table on just 1.5 points.

It will be interesting finale, with Sasikiran slated to play Timman in the final round game. The Dutchman will have white pieces in the game and is likely to play it safe.

However, going by Sasikiran's past and given his tremendous will to win, many expect the duel to be exciting, especially after the treatment Persson got from the Indian.

The Swede ventured into dangerous territory early in the opening itself and Sasikiran was all game for thrills after an irregular variation. The middle game was simply intriguing and the Indian sacrificed a pawn for further complications that perplexed Persson in quick time.

Not able to find the right defence, Perssson, who had a rook for Bishop, erred decisively when white's pieces clawed on to his own, and thereafter Sasikiran made it look easy.

The final stroke was quite brilliant too, when Sasikiran, short of time, spotted an elegant manoeuvre that ended the game on the 40th move.

For Nakamura the story was not too different from his other games in the tournament - but the result was. Amazingly enough, Nakamura once again played till the last nail, making Timman sweat hard for the half point in the middle game.

Results round 8: Krishnan Sasikiran (Ind, 6) beat Tiger Hillarp Persson (Swe, 1.5); Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 5) drew with Jan Timman (Ned, 6); Viorel Iordachescu (Mda, 4) drew with Curt Hansen (Den, 5); Sune Berg Hansen (Den, 3) drew with Devor Palo (Den, 4); Jonny Hector (Swe, 4) beat Emil Hermansson (Swe, 1.5).

The moves:

Krishnan Sasikiran v/s Tiger Hillarp Persson:

1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. e4 e5 5. d5 f5 6. exf5 gxf5 7. Qh5+ Kf8 8. Bd3 Nf6 9. Qd1 Na6 10. Nge2 Qe8 11. Ng3 Qg6 12. h4 h5 13. Bg5 Nc5 14. Bc2 Ng4 15. Rh3 e4 16. Nge2 Ne5 17. Nf4 Qf7 18. Kf1 Nxc4 19. b4 e3 20. bxc5 Bxc3 21. Rc1 Be5 22. fxe3 dxc5 23. Ne6+ Kg8 24. Rf3 Nd6 25. Nxc5 b6 26. Ne6 c5 27. Kg1 Bxe6 28. dxe6 Qxe6 29. Rxf5 Rf8 30. Rxe5 Qxe5 31. Qd3 Rf6 32. Bxf6 Qxf6 33. Qd5+ Kg7 34. Rf1 Qe7 35. Rf3 Nf7 36. Qf5 Rh6 37. Rg3+ Kf8 38. Bb3 Rf6 39. Qc8+ Qd8 40. Rg8+ black resigned.

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