Key clash: Tiger Hillarp-Persson and Kevin Spraggett get down to serious business in the sixth and penultimate round. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 0660847)

TIGER HILLARP-PERSSON and Bojan Kurajica’s highly anticipated clash ended in stalemate on day five of the Fortis International Chess Festival.

Held at the Peninsula Hotel, the two grandmasters were leading the Open  before they faced each other on the top board and they continued to do so after they shared the honours.

‘[It was a] short dramatic game,’ said Croatian Kurajica.   ‘We were testing each other out. He offered me a draw and I might have played on, but I wasn’t too sure.

‘We had too much respect or fear [of each other]. It was an interesting little draw. It wasn’t a typical grand master draw.’

Defending champion Hillarp-Persson was clearly the more content  of the two with the result.

‘I was black so I was happy with that against a strong opponent,’ said the Swede.