JOIN USGrandmaster SP Sethuraman continued with his dream run and played out a fighting draw with higher ranked Anish Giri of Holland in the first game of the third round of World Chess Cup here.
After victories over Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine and compatriot P Harikrishna in the first two rounds, Sethuraman displayed some fine form here too and the Indian did not face any trouble against Giri, a top-10 player for several years.
It was a King pawn opening wherein Sethuraman had slightly passive but perfectly normal position for a long time. The exchange of pieces became inevitable at some point and the resulting position was just level when the players shook hands.
Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi missed a great opportunity against Ding Liren of China and had to settle for a draw.
At one point in the middle game, a beautiful tactic could have turned the tide decisively in favour of the Indian. However, once Gujrathi missed the tactic, the resulting position was level. Both Gujrathi and Sethuraman will play white in the return game now.
Meanwhile, world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Bu Xiangzhi of China and now faces the elimination as he is in a must win situation with black pieces.
While Carlsen’s loss was big news, it was overshadowed by a massive controversy that spread like wildfire much before the world champion collapsed.
Grandmaster Anton Kovalyov of Canada was the centre of attraction following his victory over former world champion Viswanathan Anand in the second round.
Results (Round 3): Magnus Carlsen (Nor) lost to Bu Xiangzhi (Chn); Vladimir Onischuk (Usa) drew with Peter Svidler (Rus); Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr) drew with Vladimir Kramnik (Rus); Anish Giri (Ned) drew with SP Sethuraman (Ind); Levon Aronian (Arm) beat M Matlakov (Rus); Francisco Vallejo Pons (Esp) lost to Wesley So (Usa); Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus) drew with Baadur Jobava (Geo); Maxim Rodshtein (Isr) w/o Anton Kovalyov (Can); Ding Liren (Chn) drew with Vidit Gujrathi (Ind).