P Harikrishna was held to a draw by Russian Grandmaster Alexander Grischuk in the seventh round of the Geneva FIDE Grand Prix on Thursday.

Playing with white pieces, the Indian No 2 was put on the backfoot by the the 13th ranked Russian, who came up with an offensive strategy. Both players decided to call it a stalemate after 29 moves to end the game. Harikrishna’s next opponent in the eighth round is Chinese Grandmaster Li Chao.

Following the draw, both Harikrishna and Grischuk have dropped to joint-second in the leader board of points, with four-and-a-half points out of a possible seven.

Azerbaijan’s Teimour Radjabov, meanwhile, has retained his place at the top of the points-table with five points out of seven.