Hyderabad: Top seed GM Krishnan Sasikiran was upset by Jun Zhao of China in the second round, while GM Koneru Humpy bounced back with a thrilling win over compatriot Roktim Bandhopadhyay in the fifth Asian Chess Championship on Friday.

GM Dibyendu Barua also lost to Thein Hai Dao of Vietman.

Sasikiran could not sustain the pressure he was put under by the Chinese in a Queen’s Gambit variation of the Slav Defence. The lower-ranked Zhao sealed the win in 44 moves after he had a pawn-up in the end game where each had rook and pawn.

Humpy defeated Roktim in a game that evolved into Nimzo Indian Defence in 58 moves. Roktim made a mistake by advancing his pawn that ripped open his defence, and Humpy made a good dent into his fort and won the game comfortably.

IM Sundararajan Kidambi held second seed and former junior chamion Darmen Sadvakasov to a 52-move draw. IM Lanka Ravi scored his second win on the trot, defeating Wenjin Wu of China. G. Rohit defeated compatriot Rishipal Singh, while Ponnuswamy defeated K. Ramu.

GM Tejas Bakre lost for a second time in a row, this time to China’s Zhong Zhang, while, S.S. Ganguly drew with Vishal Sareen. Himanshu Sharma split the point with Shilong Li of China and Deep Sengupta lost to Zia-ur Raman of Bangladesh.

D. Harika drew with Ramamkrishna, while Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury drew with Somak Palit.