GM Nihal Sarin advances to the third round of Chess World Cup

Kottayam: Indian Grandmaster Nihal Sarin stormed into the third round of the Chess World Cup in Sochi, Russia with a 1.5-0.5 win over Russian GM Sjugirov Sanan.

The Kerala-based teenager, who had drawn his first game with white, won the second game with black pieces against the 2661-rated Russian.

Meanwhile, a couple of young Indian GMs were knocked out from the competition. P Iniyan found the going tough against the 2706-rated Russian Evgeny Tomashevsky, losing both his games in the round and GM Aravindh Chithambaram was knocked out, 0.5-1.5, by the much-fancied GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov.

B Adhiban advanced with a 2-0 win over Paraguayan GM Neuris Ramirez Delgado.

Nihal will face a formidable opponent in Russian Dmitry Andreikin (2724) who after receiving a bye in the first round, ousted Emre Can 1.5-0.5 in the third round.

The men's edition of the World Cup had started with 206 players in the hunt, including world champion Magnus Carlsen.