Pamplona (Spain): Former world junior champion P. Harikrishna jumped to sole lead in the 15th Ciudad De Pamplona International Chess tournament with a crushing victory over Grandmaster Laurent Fressinet of France in the fourth round here on Tuesday.

With his second victory in the tournament, Harikrishna took his tally to 3 points out of a possible 4 and is now a half point adrift of nearest rivals former world champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine and Ivan Cheparinov of Bulgaria who are both on 2.5 points.

Another half point behind are Izria Zviad of Georgia, Sergei Tiviakov of the Netherlands and Fressinet, while Dutchman Jan Timman and Andorran Oscar De La Riva Aguado have a point each.

With three rounds still remaining, third seed Harikrishna has excellent chance of making another title triumph. He will meet Zviad in the next round, while in the last two rounds he will play against Tiviakov and Ponomariov, second and top seeds, respectively.

Playing the Ruy Lopez, Harikrishna faced the in-vogue Tchigorin variation and a small opening surprise left Fressinet shattered in the ensuing middlegame.

The king side attack followed soon after, and Fressinet fumbled to allow a devastating exchange sacrifice on the 37th move. Harikrishna was quick to pounce on the opportunity.

The fourth round also produced just one decisive game while the remaining three ended in draws.

In another game, starting with the Queen’s Indian, Ponomariov faced the pawn sacrifice variation by Cheparinov and was able to neutralise white’s advantage in the middlegame. Cheparinov proposed the draw after his 23rd move.

Aguado faced the Caro Kann Defence by Zviad and opted for the advance variation that led to a balanced position quickly. The draw was agreed in the 16th move.

Playing the white side of a Rossolimo attack against Tiviakov, Timman got little out of the opening and decided to play it safe after successive defeats earlier.