Sportstar·India·Saturday, November 14, 2026 at 05:09 AM UTC

Total Chess 2026: Magnus Carlsen loses to Martirosyan; Vaishali wins, Praggnanandhaa draws in Budapest

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Jayantho Sengupta

Magnus Carlsen (centre) is winless after six games, while R. Vaishali (left) got her first victory. R. Praggnanandhaa, meanwhile, drew both games against Vladislav Artemiev | Photo Credit: Sudhakara Jain/FIDE

Magnus Carlsen suffered his first defeat of the Total Chess World Championship Tour pilot as Haik Martirosyan beat the world No. 1 and moved into the outright Group C lead on the third day of the Fast Classic stage here on Friday.

The Armenian won with White before holding Carlsen to a draw in their return encounter. Having opened the group stage with four consecutive draws, Carlsen remained without a victory after six games, with five points to Martirosyan’s 10.

R. Vaishali, meanwhile, secured her first Fast Classic win of the tournament, recovering from a defeat against Bibisara Assaubayeva to win their second meeting. Arjun Erigaisi also gained ground with a victory and a draw against Wesley So.

Martirosyan’s success came through a dangerous attack which eventually broke through Carlsen’s defences. The four points from their two encounters put him one ahead of Anish Giri, who drew his opening game against Ian Nepomniachtchi before winning the return with White after a long battle.

Nepomniachtchi had seven points, alongside Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who drew both games against Abhimanyu Mishra. The American finished the day on five points.

Vaishali hits back

In Group D, Assaubayeva struck first with White, but Vaishali responded with an attacking victory when the colours were reversed. The split results took the Indian to four points and the Kazakh to eight.

Arjun came under pressure against So in their first encounter but turned the game around to win with Black. A draw in the return lifted him to nine points, level with Hans Niemann and three behind group leader Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

The Frenchman drew his first game against Niemann before building sustained pressure with White to win the second and reach twelve points. So had four.

R. Praggnanandhaa drew both games against Vladislav Artemiev in Group B, their first encounter lasting 89 moves. Praggnanandhaa had four points and Artemiev five.

Fabiano Caruana extended his unbeaten run, defeating Vincent Keymer with Black after gaining an endgame advantage and drawing the return. His four wins and two draws yielded fourteen points, four clear of Liem Le, who drew twice against Richard Rapport. Keymer had four points and Rapport five.

In Group A, Andrew Hong claimed his first Fast Classic victory by beating leader Alireza Firouzja with White. Firouzja answered with a White win in the return to retain the lead on eleven points, while Hong reached six.

Jan-Krzysztof Duda remained second on nine after two draws against Levon Aronian, who had seven. Jorden van Foreest beat Nodirbek Abdusattorov before drawing their second game, taking them to eight and five points respectively.

The day produced 10 decisive results from 24 games, with three points awarded for a win and one for a draw. Games seven and eight follow on Saturday, leaving each player with four games to complete the group stage.

Published on Nov 14, 2026

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