World number six Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan and the world number eight, Dutchman Anish Giri, were both eliminated in today's action in Sochi.

Mamedyarov was unable to straighten out the 1-1 tie against Armenian Haik Martirosyan and was eventually knocked out of the World Cup by the former under-16 world champion, who is now 21.

The second surprise result came courtesy of Uzbek prodigy Nodirbek Abdusattorov.

Both of Giri's classical games against the 17-year-old ended in a draw and things seemed to be safe for the favourite.

However, Abdusattorov played brilliantly in the tiebreakers to win both, setting up a fourth-round match against Vasif Durarbayli of Azerbaijan.

Another young player who qualified for the fourth round is 21-year-old American Jeffery Xiong, currently number 33 in the world, who took down Sweden’s top player Nils Grandelius after a gripping match that could have gone either way.

There were four tiebreaks in the women's tournament, which is also taking place in Sochi.

The only one that ended in the first two games was between Georgian Nana Dzagnidze and Carissa Yip of the United States.

Dzagnidze won her second classical game to force the tiebreak and then outplayed her 17-year-old opponent to win those two games.

Russian Polina Shuvalova defeated her compatriot Leya Garifullina in a thrilling back-and-forth match which ended 3.5-2.5.

Kazakhstan's Bibisara Assaubayeva, 17, defeated the experienced Georgian grandmaster Bela Khotenashvili 4-2.

Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine was able to join her sister, Anna, in the next round after beating her compatriot Anna Ushenina 4.5-3.5 in a thrilling affair.

There is a rest day tomorrow, before the 32 players players in the open tournament and 16 women left in that bracket resume play.