Shenzhen, March 26 (IANS): Indian Grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna put up a spirited fight against top-seeded Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri but couldnt avert his first defeat in the Shenzhen Longgang chess tournament here on Saturday.
World No. 14 Harikrishna, who started the day atop the leader board, succumbed to the precise play of the World No. 11.
"I made a basic error at the opening, with my na5. I should have repeated with nf6 and nf5 instead. But Anish played well and deserved the win," Harikrishna conceded after the loss.
The Indian star has now slipped to the fourth position, with one victory, one defeat and one draw and 1.5 points in his kitty.
Anish, on the other hand, has risen to the top place.
Harikrishna will look to bounce back from this setback on Sunday, when he takes on Yangyi Yu of China. Yu also has 1.5 points, having drawn all his games so far.