Honours even in 2nd game

Adams, who lost the first game on Sunday, had said he was tired after playing for seven straight days. He now must win at least one of the next two games if he is to reach the finals.

If a match is tied after four games, tie-breaker sets will be held on Thursday.

Akopian and Adams have similar histories. Both are now 27 and were considered prodigies in their youth.

Adams became a Grandmaster and won the British Championship at 17. He made it to the semi-finals in 1997 at the initial knock-out World Championship in the Netherlands. Here he has played steady chess and became the favorite by upsetting the top seed, Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), in round five.

Akopian was world junior champion in the under-16, under-18, and under-20 divisions. He has become a strong Grandmaster, but has not been able to imitate Adams and make it to the very top echelon

Nisipeanu’s success here was totally unexpected, even Tohim. He is little known outside of his native Romania and was seeded 46th. Before this tournament, the 23-year-old had had few opportunities to play against the game’s elite, and had never beaten any of them.

Here Nisipeanu has eliminated three of the top 15 players, No 14 Zurab Azmaiparashvili of Georgia, sixth-seeded Vassily Ivanchuk and the second-ranked Alexei Shirov of Spain.

Khalifman (Russia) is the oldest remaining competitor at 33. He has been considered a very strong Grandmaster for more than 10 years, but has never been rated as a superstar.

The 36th seed struggled to defeat India’s Dibyendu Barua, ranked 72nd, in the first round. He appeared on his way home when he lost his first game in the next round against the fourth-seeded Gata Kamsky of the United States.

He won that match in tie-breakers and has since upset Israel’s Boris Gelfand and Judit Polgar of Hungary.