Hastings: Top seed Grand Master Krishnan Sasikiran delivered when it mattered most, defeating sole leader GM Peter Heine Nielsen of Denmark in the sixth round of the Premier tournament of the 65th Hastings International Chess Congress.

GM Pentyala Hari Krishna was involved in another draw even as GM Alexei Barsov of Uzbekistan put it across glam-girl Woman Grand Master Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia to emerge as sole leader in this 5300 Pounds Sterling event with four points from six games he has played so far.

GM Keith Arkell has a chance of catching up with Barsov in the lead position should he win his sixth round game against GM Vitaly Tshshkovsky of Russia. Arkell fell sick before the start of the game and his postponement request was accepted.

Sasikiran, along with Harikrishna and Nielsen, shared the second position jointly on 3.5 points followed by Arkell on 3 points from 5 games. English GM Luke McShane and world's youngest ever GM Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine shared the next spot on 3 points each from six games.

PTI