Mamedov, one of three overnight co-leaders, defeated Maxime Lagarde of France 1-0 to move clear at the top of the standings by half a point on a total of 5.5 points.

In joint second place with five points is Hovhannes Gabuzyan of Armenia, who today halved his match with Germany’s Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu.

Also on five points is Anton Demchenko of Russia who beat compatriot Alexey Sarana 1-0.

Germany’s Keymer Vincent also sits on the same mark after a narrow 1-0 victory over Poland’s Grzegorz Gajewski.

The fourth player on that mark is Piorun Kacper of Poland who was also a 1-0 winner against Robert Hovhannisyan of Armenia.

All players undertook a PCR test yesterday, as part of the coronavirus protocols in place at the tournament in Reykjavik in Iceland, with organisers reporting that all tests returned negative.