World Junior Champion Grandmaster P Harikrishna settled for a quick draw with GM Ni Hua of China in the 10th round of the second Sanjin Hotel Cup Grandmasters chess tournament and retained his half point lead over nearest rival GM Alexander Motylev of Russia [Images] after the end of the penultimate round of the category 15 event now underway in Taiyuan, China.

Back on the heels of Harikrishna was Alexander Motylev of Russia who failed to make the most of opportunities against his Chinese opponent in the final round game.

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With eight points in his bag from the first 10 games, Harikrishna remained in the sole lead with just one round remaining in this category 15 event. Half a point behind Harikrishna is Motylev while next in line is the Chinese trio of Wang Yue, Ni Hua and Bu Xiangzhi, once the youngest GM of the World.

Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine was still making his presence felt on five points while Tigran Petrosian was trying to make an impact on five points to his credit.

Results, round 10:

Ni Hua (Chn, 5.5) drew with P Harikrishna (Ind, 8); Wang Yue (Chn, 5.5) drew with Alexander Motylev (Rus, 7.5); Sergey Karjakin (Ukr, 5) drew with Wang Hao (Chn, 4.5); Bu Xiangzhi (Chn, 5.5) lost to T Petrosian (Arm, 5); Zhao Xue (Chn, 2.5) drew with Luke McShane (Eng, 3): Zhang Pengxiang (Chn, 4) drew with Zhang Zhong (Chn, 4).

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