World Junior champion P Harikrishna scored a thumping victory over wonder-kid Magnus Carlsen in the first game of the opening round of the Lausanne Young Masters International chess tournament in Switzerland.

With a full point lead in the two-game mini match, Harikrishna needs only a draw against Carlsen in the return game to advance to the semifinals of the unique event that features established young stars of the chess world.

On the other boards also, the first day failed to produce any surprise as the top four seeds cruised to smashing victories over their less fancied rivals.

Coming out triumphant in quick time was top seed Andrei Volokitin of Ukraine who had it easy against Elisabeth Paehtz of Germany. Second seed and United States champion Hikaru Nakamura also scored an easy victory over Georgian Nana Dzagnidze while Shakhriyar Mamedyarov made merry against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France.

The eight-player event is being played on a knock-out basis where top four finishers in the first round will play amongst themselves while the remaining will fight it out for the 5-8 places.

There are two-game mini matches in each round and in case of a tied result, games of shorter duration will come into effect to determine the winner.

Harikrishna was brilliance personified and gave a just indication that he is now ready for bigger battles in match play.