GM Magnus Carlsen is off to a promising start in the Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot 2026 after winning the Blitz Tiebreaker with 7/9. GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave finished second (6.5 points) and GM Levon Aronian third (6 points). The tournament started with a nine-round Swiss to already have tiebreaks in place before the next nine days of the competition.
This is a flash report. Come back later to read the full article here.
Day two, which features rounds one and two of the Group Stage, is on Wednesday, November 11, starting at 9 a.m. ET / 15:00 CET / 7:30p.m. IST.
Blitz Tiebreaker Final Standings
(See full standings)
You can see the pairings for the Group Stage in the graphic below.
The Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot 2026 takes place on November 10-21 at the Anantara New York Palace Hotel in Budapest, Hungary. The event is a trial run for the official event in 2027, which will crown the first FIDE World Combined Champion. The event consists of a round-robin group stage and a knockout combining blitz, rapid, and fast classical time controls. The time control is 3+2 for blitz, 15+10 for rapid, 45+30 for fast classical, and 10 minutes (White) vs. 7 minutes (Black) with a one-second increment starting on move 41 in armageddon.
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