Krishnan Sasikiran faces a tie-break in the Chess World Cup after his draw in the second game of his match against Russian Vadim Zvjaginsev.
The two had drawn the first game and the score stands tied at 11 after their two-game classical game match. They will now play two rapid games to break the tie and blitz games if the tie persists.
Third seeded Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan made an unceremonious exit from the event, losing the second game of his match against Polish Grandmaster Bartlomiej Macieja, thus going down 2-0 after his loss on Wednesday.
It was the only upset on the second day of the second round with most of the higher rated players performing true to expectations.
Former World Champion Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomariov equalized the scores in his match against Wang Hao of China by winning the second game.
Top seeded Ukrainian Grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk was held to a draw by Alexander Galkin of Russia and now faces a tie-break.
The other top seeds qualified for the third round by winning their classical chess matches, thereby avoiding the nerve wracking tie-break games.
Second seed GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan drew his second game against GM Zdenko Kozul of Croatia to win the match 1.5-0.5.
Levon Aronian of Armenia hung on to his lead by drawing his second game against German Grandmaster Jan Gustaffson.
Grandmaster Peter Svidler of Russia maintained his clean record by winning all the games he has played so far. He won his second game against Dusko Pavasovic of Slovenia to register a 2-0 victory.
Sasikiran failed to get an advantage in the opening, which was a Queen's Gambit declined. He tried to complicate matters in the middle game by accepting a bad pawn structure in return for a king side attack.
Zvjaginsev defended adroitly and gained a slightly superior position in the middle game. However, there were many pitfalls on the board and Zvjaginsev decided to play safe by agreeing to a draw on the 22nd move.
Macieja continued his excellent form and outplayed Radjabov with black pieces to pull off a major upset. Having lost the first game on Wednesday, Radjabov was in a mustwin situation.
He played the Catalan opening and sacrificed a pawn for a strong centre and prospects of a kingside attack. Macieja combined defence with counter-attack and did not allow Radjabov to gain the initiative. He gained more material advantage by winning the exchange on the 24th move and warded off all threats to win in 36 moves.
Ivanchuk failed to capitalize on his white pieces in his second game against Alexander Galkin. The Russian played the Petroff Defence and a sharp position arose after the players castled on opposite wings.
Galkin displayed excellent positional understanding by sacrificing an exchange, for which he gained full compensation in the form of a solid pawn structure and a powerful bishop pair.
Ivanchuk was forced to repeat moves to avoid loss of material and the game was drawn on the 32nd move.
