Van Foreest, Martirosyan hit back with wins at Total Chess tournament

Jorden van Foreest and Haik Martirosyan recovered from their first-round losses to beat Levon Aronian and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, respectively, in the Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot in Budapest, Hungary.

Both grandmasters had key victories in round two of the fast classical group stage on Tuesday, while many of the tournament’s frontrunners kept their places at the top of their groups.

Alireza Firouzja, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Fabiano Caruana, Le Quang Liem, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave were among the early leaders after collecting four points each from a win and a draw.

World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and Dutch grandmaster Anish Giri fought out two draws, as they ended on two points.

According to Chess.com, only four games in the second round ended decisively, despite several close contests.

The tournament, which runs from Nov. 10-21, has 24 players split into four groups. Only group winners are progressing to the knockout phase.

It is a test event for the 2027 Total Chess World Championship, which will feature a crossover of classical, rapid, and blitz chess.