Wijk aan Zee (The Netherlands): Indian grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna held off a strong challenge from Dutchman Anish Giri to consolidate his eighth position after round 11 in the Tata Steel Chess tournament.

The game that lasted for over two hours saw the World No.11 Indian engage in a tense battle and secure a crucial half point from the outing here on Friday. He now has a total tally of 5.5 points with two more rounds to play.

Harikrishna, starting with black pieces, found himself in trouble initially and his German opponent got into a winning position.

The players settled for a draw due to lack of time though Harikrishna was in a comfortable position.

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"Anish played strong novelty and got into winning position. But mistakes from him as well as me saw the game drift away. I got into better during the end moments of the game but still had to settle for a draw as the time was running out" Harikrishna said, after the match.

The Indian, with a rating of 2770, has won one, drawn nine while losing one game in the campaign so far.

Harikrishna will now take on Hungarian grandmaster Richard Rapport in his next round.