Krishnan Sasikiran slid to the bottom of the points table after suffering defeat at the hands of Grandmaster Alexey Shirov in the seventh round of the Aerosvit International Grandmasters Chess tournament here.Shirov, with three points was at the third spot, and in contention for the title as other three games ended in draws and the players retained their standings. On the top board, local hero Sergey Karjakin continued to lead the field with 5 points after a fine tactical victory over Dutch Grandmaster Loek Van Wely.Karjakin’s compatriot Vassily Ivanchuk scored over Pavel Eljanov to remain within striking distance of the leader. Sasikiran engaged Shirov in a theoretical battle in the Queen’s Indian Defence.The Indian came up with a new idea on the 31st move and forced his opponent into an endgame. His passed pawn on the seventh rank gave him excellent winning chance, but he faltered on the 36th move. He fought for another 15 moves but the outcome was never in doubt.
