Martirosyan defeats Carlsen to lead Group C at Total Chess; Erigaisi climbs to third in Group D
Haik Martirosyan defeated Magnus Carlsen and took the outright lead in Group C on the third day of the Fast Classic group stage at the Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot in Budapest. Andrew Hong also handed Group A leader Alireza Firouzja his first defeat of the group stage.
Games 5 and 6 produced 10 decisive results from 24 games in the Fast Classic phase. Each player again faced the same opponent twice with colours reversed, and the scoring system awards three points for a win and one for a draw. After six games per player, all four groups have outright leaders.
In Group A, Andrew Hong recorded his first Fast Classic victory by defeating Alireza Firouzja with White in a complicated battle; Firouzja responded by winning the return game with White. The two results left Hong on six points. Jorden van Foreest collected four points against Nodirbek Abdusattorov after winning their first encounter and drawing the return, moving van Foreest to eight and Abdusattorov to five. Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Levon Aronian drew both games, leaving Duda second on nine, two behind Firouzja, with Aronian on seven.
Fabiano Caruana continued his unbeaten run in Group B by defeating Vincent Keymer with Black in their first game and drawing the return; Keymer finished the day on four. Liem Le drew both games with Richard Rapport to reach ten points, with Rapport on five. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Vladislav Artemiev drew twice, the first encounter lasting 89 moves, leaving Artemiev on five and Praggnanandhaa on four; Praggnanandhaa is at the bottom of Group B.
Haik Martirosyan produced the day’s standout result in Group C by inflicting Magnus Carlsen’s first Fast Classic defeat after four consecutive draws, winning with White before drawing the return. Martirosyan took four points from the pair and tops Group C on ten, while Carlsen has five. Anish Giri moved into second place on nine after drawing his first game with Ian Nepomniachtchi and winning the return with White; Nepomniachtchi stands on seven. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Abhimanyu Mishra drew both encounters, taking them to seven and five points respectively.
In Group D, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won the direct encounter with Hans Moke Niemann after drawing the first game and converting sustained pressure with White in the return, reaching twelve points and sitting three clear of Niemann. Arjun Erigaisi joined Niemann on nine points after a win and a draw against Wesley So; Erigaisi came under pressure in the first game but turned the tables to secure the victory, and the return was drawn, leaving So on four. Bibisara Assaubayeva and Vaishali Rameshbabu exchanged wins with White; Assaubayeva moves to eight and Vaishali to four, the latter recording her first Fast Classic win of the event.
Arjun Erigaisi, with nine points, is third in Group D, while Vaishali is bottom of the group.
The Fast Classic group stage continues on Saturday, November 14, with Games 7 and 8. Four games remain for each player before the group standings determine places in the six knockout brackets.