India went down to Rest of the World 1.5-2.5 in the second round of the FIDE-Chess.com Online Nations Cup on Tuesday after drawing its lung-opener against USA.
Former world champion Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by Teimour Radjabov while world rapid champion Koneru Humpy could not break through the defences of former world champ Mariya Muzychuk.
P Harikrishna and the talented young Alireza Firouzja settled for a draw.
The defeat of B Adhiban, who stepped in for Vidit Gujrathi, to Peruvian Jorge Cori meant India lost the tie.
Top-seeded China took the lead with its second win, defeating Europe 3-1 after winning the first match by a similar margin against Rest of the World.
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Earlier in the opening round, India split points with USA with Humpy posting a win over Anna Zatonkish while the legendary Anand drew with the highly-rated Hikaru Nakamura.
The Americans scored when Fabiano Caruana put it across India no.2 Gujrathi.
The match between P Harikrishna and Leinier Dominguez ended in a draw.
In other matches, top-seeded China crushed Rest of the World 3-1 while Russia shared the honours with Europe in a 2-2 result.
India meets Europe and China in round three and four on Wednesday.
The event follows the double round-robin format with the two leading teams battling for the title in the "Superfinal".
All matches involve four boards - represented by three men and a women player. The rapid time-control is 25-minutes plus 10-second increment per move.
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