ImpressedDiptayanstunsNepomniachtchi; So loses

It is simply the second spherical, and the chess World Cup has already hotted up.

On a dramatic Wednesday night at Resort Rio right here, two seeds had been knocked out. One of these giant-killers was an Indian. Diptayan Ghosh surprised Twelfth-seeded Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi with black items to safe a spot within the third spherical. The Kolkatan had drawn the spherical’s first sport and received the match 1.5-0.5.

That was additionally the rating by which Titas Stremavicius of Lithuania shocked the fifth-seeded American Wesley So. The prime two seeds, D. Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi, nevertheless, superior. Gukesh bounced again to kind, with black items, in opposition to Kazakhstan’s Kazybek Nogerbek, who had held him to a draw within the opening sport. Arjun posted his second win in opposition to Bulgarian Martin Petrov for a 2-0 rating.

P. Harikrishna, who beat Arseniy Nesterov of Russia (1.5-0.5), Karthik Venkataraman, who overcame the a lot higher-rated Aravindh Chithambaram in an all-Indian battle, have additionally entered the third spherical, the place 5 from the host have assured their locations. Eight Indians will play in Thursday’s tie-breakers – third seed R. Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Gujrathi, Nihal Sarin, V. Pranav, S.L. Narayanan, M. Pranesh, Karthikeyan Murali and Raunak Sadhwani.

The day additionally noticed the tip of the campaigns for Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Aronyak Ghosh and Pa. Iniyan. But Diptayan ensured there was a lot to cheer about for India.

“To beat a participant like Nepomniachtchi, who has been a challenger for the World title, was nice,” he mentioned. “It is the very best win of my profession.”

Important outcomes (second spherical): Kazybek Nogerbek (Kaz) 0.5 misplaced to D. Gukesh 1.5; Arjun Erigaisi 2 bt Martin Petrov (Bul) 0; Temur Kuybokarov (Aus) 1 drew with R. Praggnanandhaa 1; Anish Giri (Ned) 1.5 bt Bojan Maksimovic (Bih) 0.5; Titas Stremavicius (Lit) 1.5 bt Wesley So (USA) 0.5; Grergely Kantor (Hun) 1 bt Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze) 1; Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb) Dennis Makhnev (Kaz); Vincent Keymer (Ger) 2 bt Vladislav Kovalev (Blr) 0; Kacper Piorun (Pol) 0 misplaced to Wei Yi (Chn) 2; Hans Niemann (USA) 1 drew with Lorenzo Lodici (Ita) 1; Surya Shekhar Ganguly 0 misplaced to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra) 2; Richard Rapport (Hun) 2 bt Lorenzo Luis Supi (Bra) 0; Baadur Jobava (Geo) misplaced to Le Quang Liem (Vie) ); Aronyak Ghosh 0.5 drew with Levon Aronian (USA) 1.5; Lorenzo Lodici (Ita) 1 drew with Hans Niemann (USA) 1; Ian Nepomniachtchi 0.5 (Rus) misplaced to Diptayan Ghosh 1.5; Faustino Oro (Arg) 1 drew with Vidit Gujrathi 1; Aravindh Chithambaram 0.5 misplaced to Karthik Venkataraman 1.5.

Nihal Sarin 1 drew with Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis (Gre) 1; V. Pranav 1 misplaced to Aryan Tari (Nor) 1; P. Harikrishna 1.5 bt Arseniy Nesterov (Rus) 0.5.

M. Pranesh 1 drew with Dmitrij Kollars (Ger) 1; Pa. Iniyan 0.5 misplaced to Thai Dai Van Nguyen (Cze) 1.5; Karthikeyan Murali 1 drew with Pouya Idani (Ira) 1; Raunak Sadhwani 1 drew with Robert Hovhannisyan (Arm) 1.