Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan lost to Germany's Elisabeth Pähtz to suffer a third-round exit at the Baku Marriott Hotel Boulevard.

China's reigning world champion Ju Wenjun survived a scare against Azerbaijan's Ulviyya Fataliyeva to win her second game and reach a fourth-round tie against Pähtz.

Second seed Aleksandra Goryachkina, a Russian player competing under a neutral flag, drew her second game against India's Divya Deshmukh to earn a 1.5 points to 0.5 victory and Egypt's third seed Humpy Koneru beat Belarusian neutral Olga Badelka.

The 2021 World Cup winner Alexandra Kosteniuk, now competing for Switzerland having switched allegiance from Russia, requires a tiebreak after a second draw with Serbia's Teodora Injac.

In the open World Cup, five-time world champion Carlsen drew his second game of the third round against Norwegian compatriot Aryan Tari to progress by 1.5 points to 0.5.

In the other half of the open draw, second seed Nakamura of the United States went through by the same scoreline by winning his second game against Benjámin Gledura of Hungary with the white pieces.

However, several of the leading players face tiebreaks to reach the fourth round.

Third seed Fabiano Caruana of the US played a second consecutive draw with Turkey's Mustafa Yılmaz to draw 1-1.

FIDE World Championship runner-up Ian Nepomniachtchi, a Russian player competing as a neutral, also requires a tiebreak after two draws with Azerbaijan's Rauf Mamedov.

The 2021 FIDE World Cup winner Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Poland was another player who drew both of his third round games against Bulgaria's Ivan Cheparinov.

Tenth seed Maxime-Vachier Lagrave of France was the highest profile casualty of the day, losing his second game to Uzbekistan's Javokhir Sindarov to suffer defeat.

Tiebreaks are scheduled for tomorrow beginning with two rapid matches with 25 minutes time control plus 10 seconds per move per player.