Six Players Share Lead After Total Chess Group Stage Opening Day

The Total Chess Pilot group stage began in Budapest on Wednesday, with 24 players split into four groups of six. They are playing a double round-robin at a time control of 45 minutes plus a 30-second increment per move. Six players scored four points from a possible six: Fabiano Caruana, Alireza Firouzja, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Le Quang Liem. Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri drew both of their games and trail players who recorded a win and a loss under the event’s football-style scoring system. The source says this is the first time FIDE has used this time control in an elite tournament whose games count toward official classical ratings.