GMs Jorden van Foreest and Haik Martirosyan hit back from round-one losses to beat GMs Levon Aronian and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov as the Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot 2026 group stage began. GMs Alireza Firouzja, Fabiano Caruana, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Liem Le, Ian Nepomniachtchi, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave all lead their groups on four points after a win and a draw, with the latter two just missing out on second wins. GM Magnus Carlsen was held to two incredibly fighting draws by GM Anish Giri, with both players on 2/6 and with work to do.
Day three, which features rounds three and four of the Group Stage, is on Thursday, November 12, starting at 9 a.m. ET / 15:00 CET / 7:30p.m. IST.
This is a flash report—come back later for full coverage of day two!
Group A: Firouzja, Duda Lead, Van Foreest Hits Back Vs. Aronian
Group B: Caruana, Le Lead
Group C: Nepomniachtchi Leads, Martirosyan Hits Back, Carlsen-Giri Make Thrilling Draws
Group D: MVL Misses Perfection, Assaubayeva Holds So To 2 Draws
The all-important group stage—only group winners will get a chance to play for the title—features five days of double-rounds of 45-minute "fast classic" chess. The first round saw half the games end decisively.
Group Stage: Round 1
In the second round, just four games were decisive after some very near misses, while Martirosyan and Van Foreest stood out for their comebacks—meaning they'd outscored the players who made two draws on the day.
Group Stage: Round 2
Group A: Firouzja, Duda Lead, Van Foreest Hits Back Vs. Aronian
Our Game of the Day is Van Foreest's "all-in" King's Indian win against Aronian. GM Rafael Leitao will analyze it below.
Group B: Caruana, Le Lead
Group C: Nepomniachtchi Leads, Martirosyan Hits Back, Carlsen-Giri Make Thrilling Draws
Group D: MVL Misses Perfection, Assaubayeva Holds So To 2 Draws
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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