Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte of India opened his account with an easy draw against GM Jonathan Rowson of Scotland in the second round of the premier event of Hastings International Chess Congress in Hastings, England, on Tuesday.

Kunte, who suffered a shock defeat in the first round game against GM Mark Hebden of England, did well to force a draw with black pieces on Monday. Now the Indian can look forward to his third round clash with white pieces against top seed GM Vladimir Epishin of Russia.

Hebden rode high on his first round victory and crashed through the defences of compatriot GM Stuart Conquest to shoot into the sole lead on 2 points from as many games.

GM Vasilios Kotronias of Cyprus, International Master Alexander Cherniaev of Russia and Epishin follow the leader a half point behind while Rowson and defending champion GM Peter Heine Nielsen of Denmark are joint fifth on one point each.

British Open champion Kunte, youngest participant IM Kataryna Lahno of Ukraine and Conquest are next in the standing list with half a point each. English IM Daniel Gormally, who is yet to score, is at the bottom of the table.

Seven more rounds remain in this category 13 tournament. Kunte had beaten Rowson in their last encounter at the British Championship and that might have played on the mind of the Scottish GM who played it rather safe despite having the advantage of the first move.

The opening choice by Rowson was an off beat set-up against the Nimzo Indian and Kunte had little difficulty in holding his opponent to a draw. The peace treaty was signed in just 20 moves.

"There was nothing left in the position for either of us. Perhaps I could have done better by opening the centre," Kunte said after the game.

Hebden came up with some fine moves once he got the upper hand against Conquest, who played Tarrasch defence as black. The winner was also helped by a few blunders made by Conquest who resigned on move 30.

The day's only other decisive battle was fought between Kotronias and Gormally in which the former proved himself class apart. Gormally felt the heat right in the opening itself when his surprising choice in the Berlin defence backfired. Kotronias attained a slight but lasting superiority in pawn structure and routinely deployed his forces to exert pressure. The game lasted just 29 moves.

Lahno played an enterprising draw against Cherniave while Epishin could not do much against solid play by Nielsen.

Results (Round 2):

Mark Hebden (2, Eng) beat Stuart Conquest (0.5, Eng); Vladimir Epishin (1.5, Rus) drew Peter Heine Nielsen (1, Den); Vasilios Kotronias (1.5, Cyp) beat Daniel Gormally (0, Eng); Jonathan Rowson (1, Sco) drew Abhijit Kunte (0.5); Kateryna Lahno (0.5, Ukr) drew Alexander Cherniaev (1.5, Rus)

Standings: 1. Hebden 2.0; 2-4. Epishin, Kotronias, Cherniaev 1.5 each; 5-6 Nielsen, Rowson, 1 each; 7-9. Lahno, Conquest, Kunte 0.5 each; 10. Gormally 0.