Harika outplays Short, joins Aravindh, Sethuraman in lead

Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine beat 2700-rated Laurent Fressinet and 17-year-old Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia defeated Eduardo Iturrizaga. The lady trio has three wins now and are in the top bracket along with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, Dmitri Jakovenko of Russia, Richard Rapport of Hungary, Etienne Bacrot of France, Markus Ragger of Austria, SP Sethuraman of India, Luka Lenic of Slovenia, and 16-year-old Indian GM Aravindh Chithambaram. 

Top seed Hikaru Nakamura was held to a draw by Russian GM Grigoriy Oparin and cannot now replicate his remarkable 6/6 streak of 2015. Harika employed the French Defence against Short and found a strong combination against the white King, castled on the Queenside in 31 moves.  

Chennai boy Aravindh Chithambaram, called the next Anand by the Gibraltar organisers, beat compatriot Sandipan Chanda The two strong Indians Viswanathan Anand and P Harikrishna are on 2.5 points each after their second wins in the tournament. 

Anand played flawless chess to beat Xu Xiangyu of China  in 30 moves of Sicilian Defence while Harikrishna put it across Fabien Libiszewski of France. SP Sethuraman scored his third straight win when he outplayed Chinese GM Jinshu Bai in 54 moves of Sicilian.