The Indian Grandmaster-norm holder beat China's Lufei Ruan to the title on a better tie-break score after both were tied on points.
The day produced four decisive games and it was again the youngsters who provided most of the entertainment.
The Grandmaster suffered a shocking defeat in the 2nd round of 43rd National 'A' chess championship.
The Indian ace beat the tournament leader and top seed to move within striking distance of the title in the Category-16 Super Grandmaster tournament.
The Indian ace now trails Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan 1.5-0.5 after the second game of the Rapid World Championship.
P Harikrishna suffered an unexpected defeat against Ruben Felgaer and slipped from his overnight joint second spot
The Indian woman GM beat Maka Purtseladze of Georgia and moved to joint-second position after the penultimate round in the World Junior Girls' Chess Championship.
Harikrishna outwitted top seed Grandmaster Ivan Sokolov of the Netherlands in the third round of the Crown Group of Essent International chess tournament.
They beat Kazakhstan 2-1 and moved to joint 13th in the women's Chess Olympiad.
The duo joined overnight leaders Pavel Kotsur, Saidali Iuldachev and Serik Temirbaev at the top after the penultimate round in the Parsvanath chess tournament.
They remained in joint lead with 6.5 points each after the seventh round of the Parsvanath International Chess tournament.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
The Indian ace will play his third round match in the Corus tournament with black pieces.\n\n
S Vijayalakshmi is the lone Indian left in the fray.
Grandmaster and Commonwealth champion Abhijeet Gupta created history at the Hoogeveen International chess tournament by becoming the first player ever to win the title twice in a row in the FIDE Open that concluded in the Dutch hamlet.
Rustam Kasimdzhanov held Viswanathan Anand to a draw in the fourth round of the 22nd Linares Super Grandmasters Chess tournament.
The Commonwealth champion was beaten by IM Adam Hunt of England in the first round of the British Chess Championship.
Grandmaster Harika Dronavalli came out strongly yet again in the rapid tie-breaker as she outclassed Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia to enter the semi-finals of the FIDE World Women's Chess Championship for the third time in a row.
The defeat saw the Indian slip to joint-third in the Bermuda Invitational chess tournament.
The Indian world junior champion forged ahead after sole leader Giovanni Vescovi of Brazil was beaten in the fifth round in the Bermuda chess tournament.
Former national champion Dibyendu Barua suffered his second defeat in the Parsvnath International Open chess tournament.
Indian eves cruised to an emphatic 2-1 victory over eighth seeds France in the eighth round of the 36th Chess Olympiad.
K Ratnakaran defeated Grandmaster R B Ramesh to emerge joint leader after the end of the fifth round in the Pune International Open Chess on Tuesday.
The five-time World champion played out his third draw on the trot as he signed peace with Etienne Bacrot of France in the third round of Grenke Chess Classic.
But the Indian ace, despite the defeat continues to have a share of the lead with Veselin Topalov, while Kamsky shares the last place with Etienne Bacrot. \n
The Indian ace has 1.5 points and is in tied second place with Etienne Bacrot and Michael Adams in the Corus Grandmasters chess tournament.
The Indian GM beat over compatriot WGM Nisha Mohota in the first round of the Masters' section in Abu Dhabi chess festival.
The Indian started his campaign with a fighting draw in the first round of the World Rapid Chess Championship.
The Israeli GM drew first blood in the fight for 5-8 places, beating the Belgian GM in the first game of the two-game mini-match in the World Chess Cup.
The Uzbekistan Grandmaster will meet Michael Adams of England in the final of the World chess championship.
Armenia beat the Rest of the World in the penultimate round of the Tigran Petrosian chess match.
The defeat saw the joint-leader slip to joint 10th after the sixth round in the Gibtele.Com chess festival in Gibraltar.
The defending champion shares the lead with top seed Pavel Kotsur, Saidali Iuldachev and Nassir Wajih after the fourth round in the Parsvanath International Chess tournament.
Deep Sengupta lost to Zhao Jun of China after scoring upset wins over Grandmasters in earlier rounds.
The victory gave the Indian ace the joint lead with Vladimir Kramnik in the Super Grandmasters Chess tournament.
The Indian Grandmaster's first victory took him to joint-fifth in the 10-player Hastings chess tournament.
Anand drew with Spaniard Francisco Pons while Kasparov lost to Teimous Radjabov of Azerbaijan in the Linares chess tournament.
Grandmaster Vidit Santosh Gujrathi came good when it mattered most and defeated Marius Monalache of Romania to emerge as the best performing Indian in the Cappelle La Grande International Chess tournament that concluded in Cappelle La Grande, France.
P Harikrishna leads by seven points after completion of eight rounds in the World Junior Chess championship.
