Wijk aan Zee (The Netherlands): India's Grand Master Pentala Harikrishna began his campaign in the elite Tata Steel Masters chess tournament on a positive note, earning a hard-fought draw against World No. 7 Levon Aronian here on Saturday. The World No. 11 was engaged in a keen Marshal Gambit with the Armenian that lasted three hours and 49 moves.

Playing white, he went a pawn up as the game veered towards a pulsating finish. But he was far behind on the clock and black's position was very solid, it ended in an opposite colour bishop endgame in the opening round.

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"Levon's bf5 was new for me, and a slight inaccuracy. But his position was still solid and he drew easily," said Harikrishna, one of two Indians (along with Adhiban Baskaran, ELO 2666), participating in this annual tournament, popularly known as the Wimbledon of chess.

It has some of the top players in the world competing for the top prize, with the current field being led by World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway.

Grand Chess Tour winner So Weseley (US), Sergey Karjakin (Russia) and Dutch No. 1 Anish Giri, all ranked in the top 10, are the other prominent stars taking part in the tournament.

The 14 Grand Masters, all with ELOs over 2650, will take on each other in a round robin format that will go on till January 29.