Levon Aronian of Armenia in round six of Grenke Chess Classic clinched clear first as he won his fourth game in a row, beating Hou Yifan.

This took the Armenian's tally to 5.0/6, a full 1.5 points ahead, providing him an early victory in the German-hosted tournament.

His potential rivals Magnus Carlsen (Norway) and Fabiano Caruana (U.S.) drew their respective games on Friday, April 21.

In the last round, Caruana will play against Aronian.