Fifteen-year-old Nihal Sarin and the experienced P Harikrishna continued their strong run in the Fide Chess World Cup in Khanti-Mansiysk on Friday by winning their respective opening games in round two.
Nihal, playing white, defeated GM Eltaj Safarli in just 37 moves while Harikrishna got the better of GM Vladimir Fedoseev in 54 moves in a king-pawn endgame. On the other boards, Vidit Gujrathi was held to a draw by Aleksandr Rakhmanov while B Adhibhan signed peace with GM Yangyi Yu after 55 moves.
The only Indian to suffer a loss in the first game of the second round was Aravindh Chithambaram, who was outsmarted by GM Evgeny Tomashevsky in 37 moves. The second game will be played on Saturday with all Indian players playing black.
