Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte of India was shocked by GM Mark Hebden of England in the opening round of the Hastings International Chess Congress in Hastings, England, on Sunday.

British Open champion Kunte, who boasts of a good personal score against Hebden, missed out on a promising position and was gradually outplayed in the endgame.

Top seed GM Vladimir Epishin used his immense experience to easily outplay the youngest participant, International Master Kateryna Lahno, 14, of Ukraine and emerged as the early leader along with Hebden and International Master Alexander Cherniaev of Russia in this 10-player contest, played on all-play-all basis.

The opening day featured three decisive games out of a possible five and that can be considered a good start to this year's tournament.

Opting for a fashionable variation in the Ruy Lopez, Kunte got an attacking position to his liking and looked well-set to start his campaign on a high.

Though Hebden was pushed to the wall on the king side, the Indian star failed to keep the momentum ticking and blundered away the advantage by going for simplifications.

"It was just a blunder", said Kunte after the game adding, "the position was good for me".

Once on top, Hebden consolidated his position by winning a pawn, using resourceful technique. Kunte called it a day after prolonging the battle till move 72.

Epishin was a class act as he crushed Lahno in style. The Russian faced the Queen's Indian defence by Lahno, who played black, and got a tangible advantage after trading the queens early in the middle game.

Improving his position move by move thereafter, Epishin offered little respite to his younger rival and steered the game to a winning rook and pawn endgame. Lahno resigned after 59 moves.

In the duel between two International Masters, Alexander Cherniaev of Russia outplayed local hope Daniel Gormally in a keenly contested game. Cherniaev, black, employed a variation favoured by great masters of yesteryears in the Ruy Lopez and equalised comfortably as Gormally struggled to strike upon the right plan.

The pieces got traded at regular intervals and Gormally lost a pawn in the ensuing ending after which it became child's play for the Russian. The game lasted 45 moves.

The remaining two games were drawn, albeit after very tough fights lasting till the last nail.

Defending champion GM Peter Heine Nielsen of Denmark had a slightly better position with white pieces against GM Jonathan Rowson of Scotland but failed to make the most of it, thanks to some spirited play by his opponent.

Results round 1:

Vladimir Epishin (Rus) beat Kateryna Lahno (Ukr); Stuart Conquest (Eng) drew Vasilios Kotronias (Cyp); Peter Heine Nielsen (Den) drew Jonathan Rowson (Sco); Daniel Gormally lost to Alexander Cherniaev (Rus) Abhijit Kunte lost to Mark Hebden (Eng).