Khanty Mansiysk (Russia): Grandmaster P. Harikrishna bowed out of the Chess World Cup after losing the tie-breaker against Russian GM Alexey Dreev in the third round that concluded here on Monday.

Having drawn both games played under normal time control, Harikrishna had to first play two games under rapid time control and the Indian stalwart failed to match the skills of Dreev in this faster version of the game.

Harikrishna lost the first game of the tie-breaker itself, going down from a harmless variation opted by the Russian and was under tremendous pressure in the return game to level scores.

However, the experience of Dreev came in handy in the end as the Russian salvaged a draw and marched his way to the fourth round of the Cup.

With Harikrishna’s ouster, the Indian challenge in the World Cup ended as the other qualifiers, K. Sasikiran and Surya Sekhar Ganguly had lost in the second round itself.

Harikrishna’s loss in the first game was quite painful as it came from the exchange variation of Slav defense, an opening that the Indian had mastered in his younger days.

However, the element of surprise by Dreev had the effect and Harikrishna could not handle the intricacies of the middle game in a desired fashion.