Adhiban on verge of elimination after defeat to USA8217;s Nakamura

Indian Grandmaster B Adhiban went down to Hikaru Nakamura of United States in the first game of the third round of World Chess Cup here.

Indian Grandmaster B Adhiban went down to Hikaru Nakamura of United States in the first game of the third round of World Chess Cup here. The loss as white came as a huge blow as Adhiban will now have to play for a victory with black pieces in the return game to stay in the match. The last remaining Indian will otherwise be ousted from the knockout event.

On a day of big upsets,Evgeny Tomashevsky of Russia caused the biggest reversal accounting for top seed Levon

Aronian of Armenia. Tomashevsky won with black pieces and now needs just a draw in the return game as white to proceed to the pre-quarterfinals.

Alexander Grischuk was the other big name who struggled with his form and lost to Le Quang Liem,the only other Asian besides Adhiban.

Going for the Ruy Lopez exchange as black,Adhiban showed peaceful intentions with his white pieces that did not prove good. In the preceding games as white,aggression was the key factor behind Adhiban8217;s success but this time he chose an endgame that is proven equal at top level chess.

The queen-less middle game required a lot of precision from Nakamura but he kept himself in the hunt by opting to

retain the other pieces on the board. Adhiban erred and lost a pawn on the 30th move and Nakamura wrapped the issue 12 moves later.

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Aronian was shocked in a Dutch defense by transposition. Tomashevsky pounced on his chances in the middle game and won a pawn. It was a rook and opposite colour Bishops endgame thereafter wherein the Russian came up with some emphatic technical display to go one up in the match.

Results round 3 game 1: Levon Aronian Arm lost to Evgeny Tomashevsky Rus; Vladimir Malakhov Rus drew with Fabiano Caruana Ita; Vladimir Kramnik Rus drew with Alexander Areshchenko Ukr; Le Quang Liem Vie bt Alexander Grischuk Rus; Sergey Karjakin Ukr drew with Pavel Eljanov Ukr; B Adhiban Ind lost to Hikaru Nakamura US; Boris Gelfand Isr beat Alexander Moiseenko Ukr; Jon Ludvig Hammer Nor lost to Gata Kamsky US; S Mamedyarov Aze drew with Wei Yi Chn; M Vachier-Lagrave Fra bt Leinier Dominguez Perez Cub; Daniil Dubov Rus drew with Anton Korobov Ukr; Dmitry Andreikin Rus drew with Aleksey Dreev Rus; Peter Svidler Rus bt Teimour Radjabov Aze; Vassily Ivanchuk Ukr drew with Yuri Kryvoruchko Ukr; Julio Granda Zuniga Per lost to Anish Giri Ned; Nikita Vitiugov Rus drew with Alexander Morozevich Rus.