July 26, 2021 - 11:35 AMT
Armenia's Haik M. Martirosyan claims only win at FIDE R5 first leg

Armenian grandmaster Haik M. Martirosyan claimed the only win at the Chess World Cup in Sochi on Sunday, July 25, where the fifth round started with seven other matches, al of which ended in stalemates, FIDE reports.

Martirosyan beat Iran's Amin Tabatabaei in game one, meaning a win or draw on Monday, would see him progress to the quarter-finals to play either Russian Vladimir Fedoseev or the Serbian Velimir Ivić, who drew their first game.

Martirosyan was the Player of the Day in Round 5, Haik is the only player of the #FIDEWorldCup to lead his match," FIDE tweeted.

World number one and reigning world chess champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway started with a draw against Russia's Andrey Esipenko.