Saturday, August 12 2006 15:52 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Vlissingen: Parimarjan Negi goes down to second seed Grandmaster Michal Krasenkow of Poland in the eighth round to bow out of the championship race in the Hogeschool Zeeland International chess tournament here.

After an excellent performance thus far, Negi, the youngest Grandmaster in the world, is outdone in a positional battle by the highly regarded Krasenkow.

On a bad day for the Indians in the fray here, none of them can secure a full point on the important penultimate day of the nine-round Swiss tournament.

Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua is the only silver lining as he put up stiff resistance to hold Dutch GM Friso Nijboer.

As things stand with one round remaining, Krasenkow, GM Erwin L'Ami of Holland and GM Vyacheslav Ikonnikov of Russia are now sharing the lead on seven points while Barua is in joint fourth spot along with four others.

In the final round, the seasoned Indian is slated to meet Dutch GM John Van der Wiel and a victory might still help Barua finish in a tie for the top spot.

After the loss, Negi remains on six points and is now sharing ninth spot. In the final round, the Delhi-based player meets local hopeful Jiska Helgi Dam.

Amongst other Indians in the fray, International-Master-to-be Saptarshi Roy is placed on 5.5 points following his draw with Petra Schuurman of Holland. IM Roktim Bandyopadhyay suffers a defeat at the hands of young Dutch GM Daniel Stellwagen and remains on five points while IM Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury's peaceful draws with Spanish Mombiela Gonzalo also takes him to the five points bracket.