Tbilisi (Georgia) : Grandmaster and former Asian champion SP Sethuraman created a flutter here Tuesday knocking out former FIDE champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine in a big first round upset at the Chess World Cup here.
After drawing the first game as black, Sethuraman was a man on a mission and played some fine attacking chess to find the higher-ranked Ukrainian on the wrong foot.
The victory gave Sethuraman an entry in to the second round of this knockout event that double up as part of the next World Championship cycle.
Viswanathan Anand also made it to the second round but not without fumbling a little. Up against Malaysia’s IM Li Tian Yeoh, the Indian started the second game with a one point lead but some lacklustre play in the middle game saw the tide go against him.
However, Yeoh failed to make most of his chances and though he had an extra pawn, Anand came back to draw the game and win the mini-match by a 1.5-0.5 margin.
Vidit Gujrathi made his black pieces count as he scored a fine victory over N Delgado Ramirez of Paraguay to also win by 1.5-0.5 margin and secure passage to the round of 64 in this 128-player event.
There was more good news from Indian perspective as P Harikrishna bounced back against Vidal Gonzales of Cuba to level score after a first round defeat. Hari will now play the tie-break games of shorter duration to decide the winner in this contest.
Young Grandmaster Murali Karthikeyan also scored a big victory over Francisco Vallejo Pons of Spain to reach the tie-break while B Adhiban will be the other Indian who will also decide his fate in the chess shootout.
Meanwhile, after a surprise decision to play in the World Cup as a World Champion, Magnus Carlsen of Norway had an easy passage to the next round disposing off O Balogun of Nigeria.
Each round in the World Cup consists of two classical games except the final that has four games. Each player plays one game with white and one with black in normal time control and in case of a tied result, rapid, blitz and a final Armageddon game is played to determine the winner. The total prize fund is USD 1.6 million with the first prize of USD 1,20,000.
Press Trust of India
