The PGN file supplied by the organisers includes a second round game Ivan Sokolov vs Tania Sachdev which is recorded as a black-piece victory for the latter – but does not include moves or a commentary. We have contacted Tania, who is currently preparing for round four, to find out the circumstances of this game.

Addendum: Rakesh Pai of Bangalore, India, showed us an Indian newspaper article which explains what happened: Loek Van Wely of Holland and his compatriot Ivan Sokolov failed to turn up in time for the game. Akshayraj Kore and Tania Sachdev were awarded walkovers by the arbiter. )

Rook e2 your welcome here is some additional explanation for what happened to Van Wely and Sokolov:

"We received a fairly bitter letter from Dutch GM Ivan Sokolov (above) regarding the forfeit in round two against Tania Sachdev. Ivan explains that he and Loek van Wely had shared a taxi which had mistakenly driven them to a distant part of Dubai. After the mistake had been corrected the two arrived 32 minutes after the start of the round (30 minutes are allowed). "Loek opponent clearly understood the problem and wanted to play the game," says Ivan. "My opponent wanted her point very badly. After the appeals committee had positively answered our appeal and allowed our games to be played, Loek's game started. Tania Sachdev left the playing hall once she saw appeals committee meeting with deliberate intention to 'win' her point. She was in her hotel, so I got a zero. About 15 minutes later the Delhi girl happily arrived back in the playing hall..."

"Indian IM Tania Sachdev with 4.0/7 points

"To which Tania Sachdev replied: "They have no zero tolerance here and with a 30 minute default time the games start at 5:30 p.m. All the players leave by the official bus together at 4:45. My opponent showed up a little over the default time for whatever reason he claimed. The arbiter stopped the clock on my board and signed the sheets, I left for my hotel about 15 minutes later, around half past six, not even aware that there was going to be an appeal. At half past seven in the evening I got a call from the organizer stating that they have decided that I must play the game and must get to the tournament hall as soon as I can, which is a little far and if stuck in traffic can take forever. It was of course not ideal to start playing at 8 p.m. when the game is suppose to begin at half past five, but in any case if they said I had to then I had to. However five minutes later, while I was at the reception leaving, I got another call saying that there has been a miscommunication and that there is a possibility of a rematch only if I want it and its not forced. I took the decision that I did not want to start my game at eight in the evening, and that was it. As I was on my way I went to the hall and reached well past eight p.m. I am extremely shocked at Mr. Sokolov's reaction. This is a sport and there are rules. If a person is not able to make it on time, let alone 30 minutes later, for whatever reason, I really think the least they can do is get over it, instead of making themselves sound like the victim of their opponents decision." "