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Kiril Georgiev shocks Peter Svidler

Paul Eriksen in Las Vegas

Kiril Georgiev, a low-key and often understated player, delivered the major shock of the first game of the third round of the FIDE World Chess Championship, surprising Peter Svidler today.

Meanwhile, Alexi Shirov and Veselin Topalov, who had begun with losses in the second round, had better results this time, beginning with victories.

Shirov, who has been placed second in the order of odds, beat Brazilian Gilberto Milos, while Topalov had a good win over Lev Psakhis.

Other major winners included Alexei Fedorov, who scored one of three wins with black on the day. His victim was Dutch stalwart Jan Timman, who lost in 34 moves of a Kings Indian.

Former Challenger Nigel Short, who once broke away from FIDE for the berakaway match with Garry Kasparov, was once again in good form beating Alexander Beliavsky in a long stretched out game from a Nimzo Indian.

Short, who has been quoted at 9-1 to win the title, won in 77 moves and set himself up well as he has white pieces in the second game on Saturday.

Ivanchuk, playing quietly but efficiently thus far, outplayed Shipov in a Gurenfeld Indian game with white pieces in just 37 moves. Shirov and Milos were engaged in a Ruy Lopez, where Shirov had white and won comfortably in 37 moves.

But the day's most stunning result came from Georgiev. He defeated Svidler, one of the contenders for he title, in 47 moves.

Two of the day's awaited clashes ended in draws. Kramnik drew with Korchnoi in 24 moves from an English opening in which the veteran had white, while Lautier and Gelfand played a marathon 77-move game before splitting the point.

Results of the third round first game:
Evgeny Bareev drew with Vladimir Akopian
Alexander Beliavsky lost to Nigel Short
Vassily Ivanchuk beat Sergei Shipov
Rafael Leitao drew with Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
Alexander Khalifman drew with Karen Asrian
Joel Lautier drew with Boris Gelfand
Michael Krasenkow lost to Vadim Zvjaginsev
Jordi Magem Badals drew with Judit Polgar
Alexi Shirov beat Gilberto Milos
Kiril Georgiev beat Peter Svidler
Peter Leko drew with Sergei Movsesian
Jan Timman lost to Alexei Fedorov
Sergei Rublevsky drew with Alexy Dreev
Zoltan Almasi drew with Michael Adams
Veselin Topalov beat Lev Psakhis
Viktor Korchnoi drew with Vladimir Kramnik

Summary:
Total draws: Nine out of 16
Wins with white: four
Wins with black: three
Shock of the day: Georgiev stunning Svidler with white pieces.
Two big ones: Joel Lautier versus Boris Gelfand; and Viktor Korchnoi versus Vladimir Kramnik. Both ended in draws.

Odds:
Vladimir Kramnik, the highest seeded player in the tournament, has been given odds of 3-1 to win the title. The odds released before the start of the third round sees Alexi Shirov, who had a tight second round match against Bosnian Ivan Sokolov, at the second slot. Shirov has been quoted at 9-2, while Michael Adams is at 7-1 and Nigel Short at 8-1, the same as for Peter Svidler and Vassily Ivanchuk.
Other odds are: 9-1 for Peter Leko (Hungary) and Boris Gelfand (Israel); 25-1 for Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) and Alexander Kahlifman (Russia); and 33-1 for Evegeny Bareev (Russia) and Judit Polgar (Hungary).