Grandmasters Jorden van Foreest and Haik Martirosyan overcame early losses to win their first fast classical games in Budapest on Wednesday.
These matches continue the second phase of the Total Chess World Championship Tour pilot. The event features 24 players competing for a $650,000 prize fund at the Anantara New York Palace Hotel.
“The weird thing is we're going to have these different World Championships, which are not the classical one,” world No.3 Fabiano Caruana said.
The group stage runs from November 11 to 15. Players use a time control of 45 minutes with a 30-second increment per move, according to ChessBase. This follows a blitz competition that began on November 10.
Jorden van Foreest won his match against Levon Aronian. Chess.com reported that Van Foreest described his tactical choice as a decision to go “all-in!”
Haik Martirosyan also won, defeating Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Mamedyarov resigned on move 21. Chess.com noted this followed early pressure and a blunder on move 20.
Magnus Carlsen entered the group stage with an advantage. He won the opening nine-round blitz tournament without a single loss.
Carlsen finished with 7 points from 9 games, World Chess reported. He placed ahead of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave with 6.5 points and Levon Aronian with 6 points.
The nine-round Blitz Swiss competition used a 3+2 time control. According to ChessBase, it does not award prize money or a title.
These are the four groups of Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot event! Group A: Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Andrew Hong, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Levon Aronian, Jorden van Foreest, Alireza Firouzja. Group B: Liem Le, Fabiano Caruana, Vincent Keymer, Vladislav Artemiev, Richard… pic.twitter.com/0KAJ1M7ju0
The top eight players in the blitz standings included Magnus Carlsen with 7 points and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave with 6.5 points. Levon Aronian finished with 6 points. Arjun Erigaisi, Alireza Firouzja, Fabiano Caruana, and Hans Niemann tied for fourth place with 5.5 points, according to ChessBase.
Arjun Erigaisi finished the blitz portion in sixth place on tiebreaks with 5.5 points. His performance included victories over Jorden van Foreest, but he also suffered three losses.
The 24 participants are split into four groups of six players. Each player faces every opponent in their group twice with reversed colors, according to ChessBase. The groups are:
- Group A: Alireza Firouzja, Jorden van Foreest, Andrew Hong, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Levon Aronian, and Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
- Group B: Vladislav Artemiev, Richard Rapport, Praggnanandhaa R, Vincent Keymer, Fabiano Caruana, and Liem Le.
- Group C: Anish Giri, Haik M. Martirosyan, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Abhimanyu Mishra, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, and Magnus Carlsen.
- Group D: Vaishali R, Hans Niemann, Bibisara Assaubayeva, Wesley So, Arjun Erigaisi, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
Only the winner of each group will remain in title contention, ChessBase reported. Group stage results lead to knockout competitions on November 19 and 20. These matches will combine four blitz games at 3+2, two rapid games at 15+10, and one fast classical game at 45+30.
“All the players will play all the games until the last day,” Kjell Madland, the founder and CEO of Norway Chess and the Total Chess World Championship Tour, said.
The pilot event tests a full global tour planned for 2027. That tour aims to crown a FIDE World Combined Champion, Chess.com reported. The Total Chess World Championship Tour offers two places in the 2028 Candidates Tournament, according to Times of India.
Kjell Madland is the founder and CEO of Norway Chess and the Total Chess World Championship Tour. He said the pilot status allows for adjustments to rules and regulations if necessary. “This is of course the reason we have this pilot, to test everything,” Madland said.