Niaz, Ziaur start with defeats in World Cup

Bangladesh's two leading Grandmasters -- Niaz Murshed and Ziaur Rahman -- both tasted defeats in their first matches of the Chess World Cup, which got underway in the Russian city of Sochi yesterday. 

The country's first GM Murshed (FIDE rating 2404), playing with black pieces, lost against Paraguayan GM Neruis Delgado Ramirez (2622) while Ziaur (2429), playing with black pieces, lost against Iranian GM Pouya Idani (2614).

Both players will play again against the same opponents today to decide the final outcome of this round. A win in these matches for the Bangladeshi players will take the games to tie-break -- to be decided through rapid and blitz chess while a defeat will see them eliminated. 

Meanwhile, Bangladesh's WIM Sharmin Sultana Shirin (2011) lost her first round board against Carissa Yip (2430) of the United States.