Hastings: GM P. Harikrishna beat WGM Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia in the third round of the premier tournament of the Hastings international chess congress Tuesday to move into tied second place.

Top seed Krishnan Sasikiran did not succeed in breaking out from draws and registered his third peace result in as many rounds.

The lead was once again taken by second seed GM Peter Heine Nielsen of Denmark who outclassed veteran GM Vitaly Tseshkovsky of Russia.

After the third round of the 65th edition of this traditional event, Nielsen, on 2.5 points, is closely followed by Harikrishna and GM Keith Arkell of England with two points each. GM Luke McShane of England, GM Alexei Barsov of Uzbekistan, Sasikiran and Kosteniuk all have 1.5 points.

It turned out to be an eventful day for the 16-year-old Harikrishna who survived a scare against Kosteniuk.