First round exit for Sasikiran

Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran made a surprise first round exit from the World Chess Championship after losing his second successive game against GM Kritz Leonid of Germany in Tripoli, Libya, on Monday.

More bad news from the Indian contingent followed as other strong contenders in the fray also lost their respective games in the two-game opening round.

National champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly and GM Dibyendu Barua also bid goodbye to the championship following straight losses against Peter Heine Nielsen of Denmark and Alexander Graf of Germany respectively.

M Pendalya Harikrishna has to battle it out in the tiebreak games against Chinese GM XU Jun to decide who proceeds to the next round.

International Master Neelotpal Das has already qualified for the next round as his opponent GM Vadim Milov of Switzerland failed to turn up for the match.

Meanwhile, stalwarts Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine and Englishmen Michael Adams and Nigel Short had it easy with back-to-back victories that ensured their next round berths.

In a desperate situation to win, GMs Zurab Azmaiparashvili of Georgia and Viktor Bologan of Moldova defeated Mahjeeb Morteja of Iran and Mark Paragua of the Philippines respectively to force the tiebreak stage to be played later today.

Amongst the Indians, Sasikiran lost a long drawn game against Leonid, Barua went down after a rigorous battle with Graf, Ganguly tried too hard and was punished by Nielsen while Harikrishna missed out a tactical trick of Graf.

Complete results round: Veselin Topalov (Bul) beat Tarik Abulhul (Lba) 2-0; Michael Adams (Eng) beat Asabri Hussien (Lba) 2-0; Kenneth Solomon (Rsa) lost to Alexander Grischuk (Rus) 0.5-1.5; Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr) beat Arab Adlane (Alg) 2-0; Hameed Mansour Ali Kadhi (Yem) lost to  Nigel Short (Eng) 0-2; Vladimir Malakhov (Rus) beat Kivanc Haznedaroglu (Tur) 1.5-0.5; Ronald Dableo (Phi) drew with Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (Rom) 0.5-1.5; Ivan Sokolov (Ned) beat Amon Simutowe (Zam) 2-0; Tissir Mohamed (Mar) lost to Alexei Dreev (Rus) 0-2; Vladimir Akopian (Arm) beat Jose Gonzalez Garcia (Mex) 1.5-0.5; Carlos Garcia Palermo (Arg) lost to Ye Jiangchuan (Chn) 1-1, 0.5-1.5; Mahjoob Morteza (Iri) lost to Zurab Azmaiparashvili (Geo) 1-1, 0-2; Etienne Bacrot (Fra) beat Pascal Charbonneau (Can) 2-0; Johansen Darryl (Aus) lost to Mikhail Gurevich (Bel) 0.5-1.5; Sergei Rublevsky (Rus) beat Adly Ahmed (Egy) 1-1, 0-2; Bartel Mateusz (Pol) lost to Teimour Radjabov (Aze) 2-0; Aleksej Aleksandrov (Blr) beat El Gindy Essam (Egy) 1.5-0.5; Alexei Barsov (Uzb) lost to Alexander Beliavsky (Slo) 1-1, 0.5-1.5; Francisco Vallejo Pons (Esp) beat Rodrigo Vasquez (Chi) 1-1, 1-1, 01.5-0.5; Mark Paragua (Phi) lost to Viktor Bologan (Mda) 1-1, 0-2; Konstantin Sakaev (Rus) drew with Mastrovasilis Dimitrios (Gre); Kritz Leonid (Ger) beat Krishnan Sasikiran (Ind) 2-0; Shakhriyaz Mamedyarov Shakhriyar (Aze) beat Valeriy Neverov (Ukr) 1-1, 2-0; Dibyendu Barua (Ind) lost to Alexander Graf (Ger) 0-2; Vadim Zvjaginsev (Rus) beat Darcy Lima (Bra) 2-0; Alejandro Ramirez (Crc) lost to Rustan Kasimdzhanov (Uzb) 1-1, 0.5-1.5.

Loek Van Wely (Ned) beat Alexander Ivanov (Usa) 1-1, 2-0; Hichem Hamdouchi (Mar) beat Alexander Motylev (Rus) 1.5-0.5; Giovanni Vescovi (Bra) lost to Gadir Guseinov (Aze) 0.5-1.5; Peter Acs (Hun) beat Predrag Nikolic (Bih) 1-1, 1.5-0.5; Sergei Movsesian (Svk) beat Konstantin Landa (Rus) 1-1, 1.5-0.5; Magnus Carlsen (Nor) lost to Levon Aronian (Arm) 1-1, 0.5-1.5; Daniel Campora (Arg) lost to Valerij Filippov (Rus) 0.5-1.5; Rafael Vaganian (Arm) lost to Ehsanmore Ghaem Maghami (Iri) 0-2; Aleksander Wojtkiewicz (Usa) beat Kiril Georgiev (Mkd)1.5-0.5; Merab Gagunashvili (Geo) lost to Smbat Lputian (Arm) 0-2; Zhang Zhong (Chn) lost to Rafael Leitao (Bra) 0.5-1.5; Sarunas Sulskis (Ltu) beat Bartlomeij Macieja (Pol) 1.5, 0.5; Aleksander Moiseenko (Ukr) beat Sergey Dolmatov (Rus) 1.5-0.5; Mohamad Al-Modiahki (Qat) lost to Zoltan Almasi (Hun) 0-2; Mikhail Kobalia (Rus) beat Sergey Karjakin (Ukr) 1.5-0.5; Hikaru Nakamura (Usa) beat Sergey Volkov (Rus) 1-1, 2-0; Peter Heine Nielsen (Den) beat Surya Shekhar Ganguly (IND) 2-0; Ivan Morovic Fernandez (Chi) lost to Viorel Iordachescu (Mda) 0.5-1.5; Zdenko Kozul (Cro) beat Dao Thien Hai (Vie) 2-0; Pavel Kotsur (Kaz) lost to Darmen Sadvakasov Kaz) 0-2.

Alexander Lastin (Rus) beat Robert Kempinski (Pol) 1.5-0.5; Ashot Anastasian (Arm) beat Bu Xiangzhi (Chn) 1.5-0.5; Evgeny Vladimirov (Kaz) lost to Ni Hua (Chn) 1-1, 0-2; Utut Adianto (Ina) beat Evgeny Alekseev (Rus) 1.5-0.5; Jobava Baadur (Geo) lost to Ruben Felgaer (Arg) 1-1, 1-1, 1-1, 0-1; Andrei Kharlov (Rus) beat Rustam Dautov (Ger) 1-1, 1.5-0.5; Gabriel Sargissian (Arm) lost to Sergei Tiviakov (Ned) 1-1. 1-1, 1-1, 0-1; Ernesto Inarkiev (Rus) lost to Lenier Dominguez (Cub) 1-1, 0.5-1.5; Michal Krasenkow (Pol) beat Gilberto Milos (Bra) 1.5-0.5; P Harikrishna (Ind) beat Xu Jun (Chn) 1-1, 1.5-0.5; Vasilios Kotronias (Cyp) beat Giorgi Kacheishvili (Geo) 1-1, 1.5-0.5; Evgenij Agrest (Swe) lost to Karen Asrian (Arm) 1-1, 0.5-1.5; Bruzon Lazaro (Cub) lost to Pavel Smirnov (Rus) 1-1, 0.5-1.5; Alexander Galkin (Rus) lost to Aleksander Delchev (Bul) 0.5-1.5.