Sasikiran emulates Anand

India's young chess sensation Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran on Tuesday made history by emulating Vishwanathan Anand, when he stormed into the second round of the FIDE World chess championship in Delhi.

Playing white, Sasikiran opened with Nimzo Indian classical variation against Zimbia's Amon Simutowe and crushed the African in style to become first Indian after Anand to get past the first round of the knockout championship.

Sasikiran, who faced an agonising draw with Simutowe in the first game of the two-game opening round, sacrificed for rook, a bishop and two pawns in the endgame to emerge a worthy winner.

He now awaits the winner of the first round clash between the Netherlands' Loek van Wely and Karen Asrian of Armenia, who drew their first game on Monday.

Bhagyashree Thipsay bounced back with a convinving victory over Woman Grandmaster Peng Zhaoqin of the Netherlands against whom she succumbed to in the first game.

Bhagyashree found a novelty in French Rubinstein variation on the sixth move itself. She sacrificed a pawn for initiative and attacked fiercely on Peng's king forcing the Chinese-born player to forward her king to b6 from e8. A checkmate followed on the 21st move.

National champion GM Abhijit Kunte employed Queens Indian defence against Gilberto Milos of Brazil and mishandled the opening to land in a bad position. But Milos allowed Kunte to equalise by playing some amateurish moves with the queen.

Eventually the game ended in a draw and following Monday's result, the match is tied 1-1 with the result to be decided in a tie-breaker.