Sarajevo: Second seed Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran suffered a defeat at the hands of 2005 European champion and top seeded GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu of Romania in the first round of the Bosnia 2006 International Grandmasters Chess tournament here.

The loss came as big setback to Sasikiran’s quest to cross the 2700 Elo barrier as the Indian will now have to score heavily in the rounds to come to remain in with a chance of achieving the feat here.

Nisipeanu, on the other hand, had everything to gain after his remarkable effort as he shot in to sole lead on Day I itself as the other games in the category-18 event ended in draws.

Signing peace first was Dortmund champion Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany who did not take long to realise he had little chance against Bosnian talent Borki Predojevic, while Norwegian boy-wonder Magnus Carlsen achieved the same result against higher rated Vladimir Malakhov of Russia.

While Nisipeanu has one point after the first round, Carlsen, Malakhov, Naiditsch and Predojevic are all on half a point sharing second spot. Sasikiran is currently at the bottom of the table after the debacle.

The event is being played on a double round basis between six players under Fide’s time control of 90 minutes for the entire game with a 30 seconds increment after every move is made.

Nisipeanu turned the heat early on Sasikiran after the latter employed the fashionable Berlin Defence with his black pieces. The Romanian opted for an old variation earlier on and found Sasikiran’s preparation inadequate to get a tangible advantage in the queen-less middlegame.