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ZAMBIA’S Gillan Bwalya has been knocked out at the World Chess Federation (FIDE) World Cup after losing his second consecutive round one game to tournament favourite Grand Master (GM) Vladimir Kramnik of Russia.
And Egyptian GM Bassem Amin was forced to a play-off after Azerbaijan GM Eltaj Safarli came out strongly to win the second game in the first round.
International Master (IM)-elect Bwalya bowed out at his debut chess World Cup in Tromso, Norway with a 2-0 defeat having lost the earlier match to Kramnik on Sunday.
In a bid to stay longer at the tournament, the Zambian on Monday aimed to upset the experienced Russian and force a tie-break but it was all in vain as Kramnik’s expertise saw the match end after 40 moves.
Unlike in the first game that ended after 31 moves, the second game had an extra nine moves.
Bwalya had black pieces in the first round, second game.
And Amin, who was on the verge of becoming the first African to go past the first round, has been forced into a tie-break after the Azerbaijani GM won the second game of their first round matches.
Amin won the earlier match but resigned after 36 moves as he was pinned by the Safarli to chalk-out a 1-1 draw and for the two to go for a tie-break that will determine who progresses to the second round of the World Cup.
It was a familiar dark day for the other African players at the World Cup, with IM Samy Shoker and Essam El Gindy both losing their matches while Ali Sebbar of Morocco split the last game with Russian GM Sergey Karjakin.
Sebbar goes out of the tournament with half a point having lost the earlier match to the Russian.
Shoker and El Gindy were each defeated 2-0 by GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan and GM Leinier Dominguez of Cuba, respectively.
The FIDE World Cup is a straight elimination competition starting with 128 players and is played over two games in each round except for the final that consists of four rounds.
The chess World Cup ends on September 3.
