Total World Chess C'ships: Bibisara stuns Arjun before he fights back

The sibling duo of R Praggnanandhaa and R Vaishali also endured a disappointing day, with both losing their two games on Thursday.

While Praggnanandhaa lost to Fabiano Caruana, Vaishali went down to Hans Niemann.

Playing with the white pieces, world No. 12 Erigaisi had a good opening, but Bibisara's advancing pawns proved decisive as she won the opening encounter.

Erigaisi, rated 2746 and more than 200 points ahead of the women's world No. 7 Bibisara, however responded with a win of his own while playing with the black pieces. Both players ended the day on five points in Group D.

"It was one of the best wins with the Kings Indian structure in my career probably," Bibisara told the official broadcaster.

"I had some problems after the opening and I also had less time than him. but then he made some mistakes and I managed to play good at that moment," she added.

The win lifted Bibisara to five points, while Erigaisi also finished the day on the same tally. Erigaisi is third in the group, behind Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Niemann, who both have eight points.

With one draw and three losses, Vaishali remained at the bottom of Group D.

Competing in Group B, Praggnanandhaa lost both his games to Caruana, who produced one of the day's strongest performances.

Playing with white, Caruana sacrificed a piece to open up Praggnanandhaa's defences and won comfortably. He then added another win with black.

Having drawn both his games on day one of the Fast Classical event, Praggnanandhaa slipped to the last spot in the group with two points, while the twin victories lifted Caruana to 10 points, two ahead of Liem Le, who remained his closest challenger after a win and a draw against Vincent Keymer.

After winning a tough battle with White, Le ended the day on eight points, while Keymer was on three.

Richard Rapport and Vladislav Artemiev drew both encounters and moved to three points each.

World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen's winless run in the Fast Classical continued as he was held to two draws by teenaged GM Abhimanyu Mishra in Group C.

In their second game, Mishra was in a promising position and was pressing for a win with the white pieces, but the Norwegian held on, much to the disappointment of the 17-year-old American GM.

Carlsen has now drawn all four of his Fast Classical games and is on four points, while Mishra has three.

Haik Martirosyan recovered from a first-game defeat against Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri to win their return encounter. Giri's attack secured victory in as few as 26 moves with White, but Martirosyan hit back with a win of his own.

The three points from the day's results lifted Martirosyan to six, level with Ian Nepomniachtchi at the top of Group C, while Giri is on five.

Nepomniachtchi drew both games with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. The pair earned two points each, leaving Mamedyarov on five.