Short’s experimental opening play might become a real problem for him in this tournament. The 2.b3-Sicilian is dubious at the best of times, and Topalov had no trouble obtaining a slight edge with black. Short fought well, however, and the Englishman was probably doing alright when he "blacked out" and blundered a pawn on move 31.

Adams came to the board with a "safety first" attitude, issuing the solid Petroff’s Defence against Shirov’s 1.e4. Shirov did all he could to keep it sharp, and the critical position arose on move 13 when Adams had to enter some pretty heavy complications or simply lose a pawn. Adams chose the latter path, and for a long time it looked as though Shirov was on his way to a smooth victory.

The former Bulgarian ace Kiril Georgiev is certainly no stranger to play at this level, but he’s been absent form top-flight events for quite some time now. Georgiev is without a doubt one of the best endgame technicians in the world – something 20-year-old Sergey Movsesian can testify to after suffering a long, gruelling massage at the hands of the master.

Home favourite Ivan Sokolov was unable to get an edge against Bareev’s Benko Gambit, and the game eventually drifted into a King’s Indian where Black was having all the fun. I’m not sure why Bareev offered a draw on move 30, but I guess he was mentally geared towards splitting the point when this game started. After all, even Kasparov has lost to Ivan with black.