BUDAPEST: Haik Martirosyan defeated Magnus Carlsen to take 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 caused an upset by handing Group A leader Alireza Firouzja his first defeat of the group stage.
Games 5 and 6 produced 10 decisive results from 24 games. Each player again faced the same opponent twice with colors reversed, with three points awarded for a win and one for a draw.
After six games per player, all four groups have outright leaders. Firouzja heads Group A on 11 points, Fabiano Caruana leads Group B on 14, Martirosyan tops Group C on 10 and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave leads Group D on 12.
Firouzja responds after Hong claims his first win
Andrew Hong recorded his first Fast Classic victory of the event by defeating Alireza Firouzja with white in a complicated battle. Firouzja responded with a white win in the return game, creating an advantage and forcing favorable exchanges before converting. The three points apiece leave Firouzja on 11 and Hong on six.
Jorden van Foreest collected four points against Nodirbek Abdusattorov, winning their first encounter before drawing the return. Van Foreest moves to eight points, while Abdusattorov has five.
