Vidit Gujrathi came up with a strong performance with black pieces to defeat GM Aleksandr Rakhmanov and join P Harikrishna in the third round of the Fide Chess World Cup in Khanti-Mansiysk, Russia on Saturday.
Gujrathi forced Rakhmanov to resign after 62 moves in a rook-pawn endgame.
Meanwhile Harikrishna, who was in driver’s seat after winning the opening game staved off Vladimir Fedoseev’s attempt to clinch a full point and managed to carve out a draw after only the kings were left on the board.
But it was a heart-breaking loss for 15-year-old Nihal Sarin as a mistake in the middle game cost him a point and forced a decider against GM Eltaj Safarli.
Needing just a draw after winning the opening game, Nihal had done well to counter Safarli’s Evans Gambit but made a mistake that cost him his bishop and ultimately the game in 37 moves and will have to play the tie-break on Sunday.
B Adhibhan will also need the tie-break route to third round after drawing the second game as well against GM Yangyi Yu.
However, Aravindh Chithambaram was knocked out of the tournament after he could manage just a draw against GM Evgeny Tomashevsky in the second game, having lost the first.