P. Harikrishna was off to a sedate start following a draw with Alexie Shirov but Vidit Gujrathi lost his way against Levon Aronian in the opening round of the €150,000 FIDE Grand Prix in Berlin on Friday.
The other two decisive games of the day came from Group B where Russia’s Vladimir Fedoseev and Poland’s Radoslaw Wojtaszek emerged as winners.
Once Gujrathi faltered on the 35th move by moving his rook to the queenside, Aronian seized the moment with an aggressive plan. He pushed the pawns before the position was locked.
Falling behind on time, Vidit found it tough to find the precise continuation. On the 51st move, Aronian forced Vidit to trade his bishop for a pawn and slowly tightened the noose to win in 64 moves.
Much earlier, Hari and Shirov drew in 31 moves. Draw was signed when the game was poised for a three-fold repetition of moves.
The results (first round): Group A: Andrey Esipenko (Rus) drew with Alexander Grischuk (Rus); Etienne Bacrot (Fra) drew with Hikaru Nakamura (USA).
Group B: Vladimir Fedoseev (Rus) bt Grigoriy Oparin (Rus); Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Pol) bt Richard Rapport (Hun).
Group C: Levon Aronian (USA) bt Vidit Gujrathi; Vincent Kaymer (Ger) drew with Daniil Dubov (Rus).
Group D: Wesley So (USA) drew with Leinier Dominguez Perez (USA); Alexei Shirov (Esp) drew with P. Harikrishna.
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