Total Chess Kicks Off With Round 1
By Cameron W. · Wed, 11 Nov 2026
Total Chess groups open with six wins in 12 games. Firouzja, Aronian, Caruana, Nepomniachtchi, Mamedyarov and Vachier-Lagrave lead; Carlsen drew Giri.
Twelve games, six decisive results and six draws: that was the first Fast Classic game of the day in Budapest, and it was enough to give each group a very different feel. Carlsen shared the point with Anish Giri. Alireza Firouzja and Levon Aronian won in Group A, Fabiano Caruana in Group B, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in Group D. With the same pairings replayed with reversed colours later in the day, nothing is settled yet, but the early tables already have shape.
Group A: Firouzja and Aronian lead
Firouzja beat Nodirbek Abdusattorov with White, a tough result for one of the highest-rated names in the field. Aronian took down Jorden van Foreest with Black. Andrew Hong and Jan-Krzysztof Duda drew. Firouzja and Aronian are on 3 points, Hong and Duda on 1, and Abdusattorov and van Foreest on 0.
Group B: Caruana takes the early lead
Caruana beat Richard Rapport with Black to open his account. Vladislav Artemiev drew with Liem Le, and Praggnanandhaa drew with Vincent Keymer. Caruana leads on 3, four players sit on 1, and Rapport has 0.
Group C: Nepomniachtchi and Mamedyarov in front
Carlsen and Giri split the point in the headline pairing. Ian Nepomniachtchi beat Abhimanyu Mishra with White, and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov beat Haik Martirosyan with Black, so those two lead on 3 points. Carlsen and Giri are on 1, with Martirosyan and Mishra on 0.
Group D: a difficult start for Vaishali
Vachier-Lagrave beat Vaishali Rameshbabu, who had White, to lead the group on 3. Hans Niemann drew with Arjun Erigaisi, and Bibisara Assaubayeva drew with Wesley So, a solid result for the lower-rated player. Niemann, Erigaisi, So and Assaubayeva are on 1, and Vaishali is on 0. She has Black against Vachier-Lagrave in the return game.
The shape of the day
By simple count, half of the twelve games were decided, and the colours told an interesting story. Black won four of the six decisive games (Aronian, Caruana, Mamedyarov and Vachier-Lagrave), while White won two (Firouzja and Nepomniachtchi). The other six games ended level, including Carlsen against Giri in Group C and Niemann against Erigaisi in Group D.
What comes next
The second game of the day was set for 18:30 CET. Every pairing is replayed with colours reversed, so a player who lost with White will have a chance to answer with Black. Each win is worth 3 points and each draw 1, and a double round-robin means 10 games per player over the five days. With so few games played, the tables are barely a sketch, but they do show who has the early momentum.
