Sasikiran draws with Macieja

Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran played out an easy draw with Polish GM

Bartlomiej Macieja in the first game of the third round of the Chess World Cup in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia on Friday.

After a lot of hard work in the first two matches that were stretched to the tie-break stage, Sasikiran will look forward to an improved performance in the return game in the last 32 stage against Macieja, who has performed way above expectations in the tournament.

The tournament started with 128 players, including five Indians, and Sasikiran emerged the lone Indian survivor after the first round.

The biggest upset since the ouster of Azerbaijani Teimour Radjabov came in the third round when Ivan Cheparinov of Bulgaria, more famous as second of compatriot former World champion Veselin Topalov, outplayed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan.

The first day of the third round produced just four decisive games out of a possible 16. Besides Cheparinov, the other winners were Gata Kamsky of the United States, Dmitry Jakovenko of Russia and Wang Yue of China.

Sasikiran, had little troubles with his black pieces as he used an idea introduced by fellow-Indian P Harikrishna a few years back in the Slav defense.

While Harikrishna had used it effectively against Ivan Sokolov in the Essent tournament of 2005, Sasikiran found it tempting enough to get an easy half point yet again.

It was one of the most popular variation of the Slav wherein the pawn sacrifice comes.

Interestingly, white manages to reach an endgame soon after gobbling the pawn but the nature of the position gives black adequate compensation which was exactly the case when Macieja shared the point. The game lasted just 29 moves.

The victory with white leaves Cheparinov knocking on the pre-quarter-final gates in this knockout championship and he is now just a draw away.

Kamsky had it easy against Bulgarian Kirl Georgiev, Jakovenko defeated Zoltan Almasi of Hungary while the all-Chinese duel between Wang Yue and Bu Xiangzhi ended in favour of the former.

All the four winners of day one of third round go with a huge advantage in the return games.

Complete results round 3: Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr) drew with Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (Rou); Ivan Cheparinov (Bul) beat Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze); Bartlomiej Macieja (Pol) drew with Krishnan Sasikiran (Ind); Ernesto Inarkiev (Rus) drew with Levon Aronian (Arm); Alexei Shirov (Esp) drew with Alexander Onischuk (Usa); Sergei Rublevsky (Rus) drew with Peter Svidler (Rus); Michael Adams (Eng) beat Zhou Jianchao (Chn); Laurent Fressinet (Fra) drew with Evgeny Alekseev (Rus); Alexander Grischuk (Rus) drew with Evgeny Bareev (Rus); Lenier Dominguez  (Cub) drew with Magnus Carlsen (Nor); Gata Kamsky (Usa) beat Kiril Georgiev (Bul); Vladimir Malakhov (Rus) drew with Vladimir Akopian (Arm); Dmitry Jakovenko (Rus) beat Zoltan Almasi (Hun); Evgeny Tomashevsky (Rus) drew with Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukr); Wang Yue (Chn) beat Bu Xiangzhi (Chn); Sergey Karjakin (Ukr) drew with Etienne Bacrot (Fra).

The moves: Bartlomiej Macieja v/s Krishnan Sasikiran 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 Qc7 8. g3 e5 9. dxe5 Nxe5 10. Bf4 Nfd7 11. Bg2 g5 12. Bxe5 Nxe5 13. Qd4 f6 14. O-O-O Rd8 15. Qe3 Be7 16. Rxd8+ Kxd8 17. Rd1+ Kc8 18. Nxe5 Qxe5 19. Qxa7 Ba3 20. Qd4 Qxd4 21. Rxd4 Bc5 22. Rd2 h5 23. e3 Be6 24. Bf3 Kc7 25. Kc2 h4 26. b3 hxg3 27. hxg3 Rh2 28. Be4 Bb4 29. Kb2 Kb6 draw agreed.