Grandmaster Boris Gelfand drew first blood in the fight for 5-8 places and defeated Belgian GM Mikhail Gurevich in the first game of the two-games mini-match in the World Chess Cup in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia.
On a day when most of the remaining 16 players decided to take a break and took easy draws, Russian GM Alexey Dreev was the only other winner in the fight for 13-16 places after he beat compatriot Konstantin Sakaev.
The easy draws between the semi-finalists meant that there might be some more action as both matches might go to the tiebreaker if the players achieve the same results in the return games on Tuesday.
While it was expected from Russian Alexander Grischuk to take it easy after his nerve-wrecking victory over Gelfand in the previous round when he won in the blitz games, the safer approach of Frenchman Etienne Bacrot surprised many as he drew without much ado with white pieces against Armenian Levon Aronian, the other semi-finalist.
For the record, as many as six out of eight games ended in a deadlock and amongst the drawn games, only Vladimir Malakhov of Russia tried to provide some sparks on a dull day against teenager Magnus Carlsen of Norway, albeit without much success.
However, Gelfand had no such intentions against Mikhail Gurevich despite having black pieces. The Israeli was suitably rewarded in the middle game after Gurevich also took up the challenge and gave a piece for some attack on the kingside.
As it finally dawned, white's attack turned out to be only optical and in the end Gelfand's extra piece had the final say.
Dreev's encounter against Sakaev did not enthuse many as both of them are out of the title race anyway.
Nevertheless, Dreev, playing white, was in top form in this keenly-contested game and sacrificed a pawn early in the opening to press for advantage.
Sakaev had a reasonable position on board in the middle game but his attacking bid on the kingside failed beyond repairs and Dreev clinched the issue after 39 moves.
Amongst other games of the day, the top match between Grischuk and former World champion Ruslan Ponomariov lasted just 16 moves while Bacrot signed peace with Aronian after 26 moves.
Carlsen was the only one pressed albeit in a typically restrained aggression by Malakhov, who played the English opening as white. Subsequent exchanges in the middle game led to a queen and minor piece endgame but the game never really left the boundary of a draw.
The inevitable was reached after 56 moves.
The World Cup started off with 128 players, including three Indians -- S S Ganguly, Krishnan Sasikrian and P Harikrishna. The first two lasted two rounds while Harikrishna was beaten by Dreev in the third round.
The last 16 play till the end to determine the top places as the top 10 from here will qualify to the next World Championship match tournament cycle. The first prize is US $80000.
Complete results (Game 1 Semi-finals): Alexander Grischuk (Rus) drew with Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukr); Etienne Bacrot (Fra) drew with Levon Aronian (Arm).
5-8 places: Sergei Rublevsky (Rus) drew with Evgeny Bareev (Rus); MIkhail Gurevich (Bel) lost to Boris Gelfand (Isr).
9-12 places: Vladimir Malakhov (Rus) drew with Magnus Carlsen (Nor); Gata Kamsky (Usa) drew with Francisco Vallejo Pons (Esp).
13-16 places: Joel Lautier (Fra) drew with Loek Van Wely (Ned); Alexey Dreev (Rus) beat Konstantin Sakaev (Rus).
