Grandmaster Koneru Humpy of India defeated Grandmaster Maxim Sorokin of Russia in the first round of the eight-match series of the Ilapuram Grand Masters Chess tourney in Vijayawada on Wednesday.

Sorokin, with white, opened the game with a Reti opening while Humpy opted for the Queens Gambit Tartakowar variation.

A minor mistake by Sorokin in the middle game saw Humpy take the initiative and win the game in 44 moves.

Meanwhile, in the International FIDE rating round-robin tournament, which also got underway simultaneously, K V K Karthik and M Lalitha Babu won their respective first round matches.

FIDE rating results (first round): K V K Karthik (1) bt Sk Khasim (0); D .Sai Srinivas (1) bt G Murulikrishna (0); M L A Reddy (0)lost to J Malleswara Rao (1); S Bhanupriya (0) lost to Y Sandeep (1); M R Lalitha Babu (1) bt Sorokina Natolia (1); K Chandrahawsa (0) lost to D Lakshmana Rao (1).