Wesley So won both games against Vaishali Rameshbabu and Anish Giri took the sole lead in Group C on the fourth day of the Fast Classic group stage at the Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot in Budapest. Arjun Erigaisi defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave creating a three-way tie at the top of Group D.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Games 7 and 8 produced 10 decisive results from 24 encounters. Each player again faced the same opponent twice with colours reversed, with three points awarded for a win and one for a draw. So was the only player to collect the maximum six points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alireza Firouzja leads Group A on thirteen points, while Fabiano Caruana remains four points clear of his closest competitor in Group B on sixteen. Giri heads Group C on thirteen, and Vachier-Lagrave, Hans Moke Niemann and Erigaisi are tied on thirteen at the top of Group D.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alireza Firouzja and Jan-Krzysztof Duda drew both of their games, leaving Firouzja on thirteen points and Duda on eleven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jorden van Foreest joined Duda on eleven after exchanging wins with Andrew Hong. Hong struck first with Black, but Van Foreest responded with a Black victory of his own in the return. The three points apiece leave Hong on nine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Levon Aronian and Nodirbek Abdusattorov also drew twice. Aronian reaches nine points, level with Hong, while Abdusattorov has seven. Firouzja is heading into the final round of group games with a two-point lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fabiano Caruana and Le Quang Liem Le drew both games, keeping the gap between Group B\u2019s top two at four points. Caruana has sixteen from four wins and four draws, while Le remains unbeaten on twelve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Richard Rapport claimed his first Fast Classic win of the event in a dramatic finish against Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. A late mistake by Praggnanandhaa allowed Rapport to turn a difficult position into victory with checkmate. A draw in the return put Rapport to nine points and Praggnanandhaa to five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vincent Keymer also recorded his first Fast Classic victory after drawing his opening encounter with Vladislav Artemiev. After drawing the first game, Keymer won the return with White, reaching eight points, while Artemiev has six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anish Giri took the Group C lead with a win and a draw against Abhimanyu Mishra. Giri won an endgame with White in their first encounter, then drew the return game to reach thirteen points, two ahead of his closest challengers. Mishra has six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ian Nepomniachtchi defeated the day\u2019s leader Haik Martirosyan in the return after a first-game draw. Both players finish the day on eleven points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Magnus Carlsen and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov drew both games. Mamedyarov moves to nine points and Carlsen to seven. Carlsen remains without a Fast Classic win after seven draws and one defeat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Arjun Erigaisi ended Maxime Vachier-Lagrave\u2019s unbeaten Fast Classic run. Following a draw in their first game, Erigaisi won the return with White in an endgame to join Vachier-Lagrave on thirteen points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hans Moke Niemann also reached thirteen after a win and a draw against Bibisara Assaubayeva. Niemann won the first game with White, but Assaubayeva held the return in the day\u2019s longest game. She finishes on nine points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wesley So secured his first two Fast Classic victories of the event against Vaishali Rameshbabu. The six-point return moves So to ten points, three behind the leaders, while Vaishali remains on four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two games remain for each player in the Fast Classic round-robin stage before the final standings determine places in the six knockout brackets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wesley So won both games against Vaishali Rameshbabu and Anish Giri took the sole lead in Group C<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[39],"class_list":["post-17733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-chess"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t