Carlsen escapes with a draw against Mishra
The second day of the group stage at the Total Chess Pilot in Budapest saw two players score maximum points, as Fabiano Caruana and Hans Niemann defeated their respective opponents twice on Thursday. Coincidentally, both Americans faced one of the Rameshbabu siblings, with Caruana beating Praggnanandhaa and Niemann defeating Vaishali. Caruana is now the highest scorer among all 24 participants, having collected 10 points from three wins and a draw under the football-style scoring system.
Keep it simple. Stay objective. Watch the clock. Sometimes take the risk. GM Loek van Wely explains the ten principles that decide real games. They aren’t about theory. They’re about what you do at the board when it counts.
Opening theory gets all the attention. But according to GM Loek van Wely, a player who has played in 14 Olympiads, is eight-time Dutch champion, and has decades of experience against Karpov, Kasparov, Anand, and Carlsen, most of what separates strong players from the rest has nothing to do with memorised lines.
Free sample video: Introduction
Free sample video: Don't Bluff the Donkey
Caruana leads Group B outright, while Niemann shares first place in Group D with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, both on 8 points. In Group A, Alireza Firouzja is the sole leader after collecting a win and a draw for the second consecutive day, also reaching 8 points.
Hans Niemann defeated Vaishali Rameshbabu twice (after the Indian GM had defeated him in the blitz tournament) and is now co-leader in Group D | Photo: Michal Walusza
Alireza Firouzja is leading Group A with 8 points | Photo: Michal Walusza
Meanwhile, Group C has the tightest standings, with Ian Nepomniachtchi and Haik Martirosyan sharing the lead on 6 points. The two have reached that score in contrasting fashion: Nepo defeated Abhimanyu Mishra once and drew his other three games, while Martirosyan has collected two wins and two losses, bouncing back from defeat to level the score in both of his mini-matches. Anish Giri and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov stand 1 point behind the leaders.
Magnus Carlsen, rather surprisingly, stands fifth in Group C with 4 points, having drawn all four of his games. The Norwegian is the only player in the tournament yet to record either a win or a loss. What is more, he was fortunate to escape with a draw in his second encounter with Mishra, having reached a clearly inferior endgame. Despite his slow start, Carlsen remains only 2 points behind the leaders, while Mishra, in last place with 3 points, is also within striking distance. Note that only the group winners will have a chance to compete for tournament victory in the knockout stage.
Magnus Carlsen dealing with a tough endgame against 17-year-old Abhimanyu Mishra | Photo: Michal Walusza
How grandmasters win without fireworks: GM Jan Markos shows you 11 very practical tips from "How to play in a lost position" to "Be patient like Carlsen" that will improve your tournament chess.
Most chess books teach you what to think about. This series teaches you what to actually do when the clock is running and the result is on the line. Compiled from GM Jan Markos's acclaimed "Practical Tips for the Tournament Player" column in ChessBase Magazine, Volume 1 covers the decisions every tournament player faces before the position ever gets complicated: how you use your time, how you handle pressure, and how you think when the stakes are real.
Free Video Sample: How to use your time effectively
Drawing twice against the best player in the world is a strong result - though Mishra later noted that "you should really win such a game" | Photo: Michal Walusza
The most notable result on Thursday was Bibisara Assaubayeva's victory with the black pieces over Arjun Erigaisi. Rated 2532, Assaubayeva defeated the 2746-rated Indian super-GM with the black pieces in their first encounter of the day (see game with annotations below), recording her first career win against a player rated above 2700.
Erigaisi bounced back to win their second game, but that does not take away from Assaubayeva's achievement. Following two draws against Wesley So on Wednesday, she has earned 11.4 rating points and climbed to fourth place in the women's live ratings.
Assaubayeva and Erigaisi share third place in Group D with 5 points each, 3 behind Niemann and Vachier-Lagrave. Wesley So, who first lost and then drew with Vachier-Lagrave on Thursday, stands fifth with 3 points. Reflecting on his results so far, the US representative remarked, "It's pretty clear I found my worst chess format".
It was a memorable day for Bibisara Assaubayeva, who managed to beat Arjun Erigaisi from the black side of a King's Indian Defence | Photo: Michal Walusza
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is tied for first place in Group D, while Wesley So has failed to find his best form in Budapest | Photo: Michal Walusza
Group A
Rounds 3 & 4
Standings (win = 3 pts., draw = 1 pt.)
Most players don’t lack the urge to attack, they just strike at the wrong moment, and GM Sipke Ernst shows you which signals tell you to go for the king and which tell you to choose another plan.
Most players know how to attack. What separates strong players from the rest is knowing when. In this course, GM Sipke Ernst, a grandmaster from the Netherlands and experienced coach, addresses the mistake he sees most often in his own students: attacking with the right idea, at the wrong moment.
Free video sample: Introduction
Free video sample: Example Game: Ernst - Mediema
Nodirbek Abdusattorov facing Jan-Krzysztof Duda | Photo: Michal Walusza
All games
Group B
Rounds 3 & 4
Standings (win = 3 pts., draw = 1 pt.)
Two players who are having a great 2026 - Fabiano Caruana and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu | Photo: Michal Walusza
All games
Group C
Rounds 3 & 4
Standings (win = 3 pts., draw = 1 pt.)
The King‘s Indian Attack is a universal opening: easy to learn, flexible, and rich in both tactical and positional opportunities.
Anish Giri v. Haik Martirosyan | Photo: Michal Walusza
All games
Group D
Rounds 3 & 4
Standings (win = 3 pts., draw = 1 pt.)
Bibisara Assaubayeva | Photo: Michal Walusza
All games
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