Felipe Aguilar opened up a one-shot lead during the third round of the Volvo China Open as a host of players made big moves up the leaderboard at Topwin Golf and Country Club.
The Chilean made four birdies on the front nine to get to 15 under but a large and congested chasing pack was heaping on the pressure in Beijing.
Richard Bland and Grégory Havret were both going well at 14 under, with Lucas Bjerregaard, Li Haotong, Tyrrell Hatton and Alex Noren all a further two shots back around the turn.
All of the afternoon starters from round two had returned at 6.45am to complete their rounds and Frenchman Benjamin Hebert made the big early move with three second round birdies moving him from the cut-line to five under and that momentum continued into round three.
Starting in the bottom half of the U-draw, he eagled the short par four 11th and then made birdies on the 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th and 18th to turn in 29 and move into a share of the lead with Aguilar and Noren.
The 41 year old had birdied the first with Swede Noren making gains on the first and third but Aguilar then pulled away with a 30-foot putt for birdie on the fourth and an approach to inside six feet on the next.
And when Noren found three bunkers on his way to a double-bogey on the fifth and Hebert dropped a shot on the first, the lead was up to three shots.
There was big movement going on behind those three, however, as Bland went on a run of four birdies from the fifth, with Frenchman Havret turning in 32 with five birdies and a bogey.
Aguilar took advantage of the short par five eighth to make another gain but Havret and Bland, playing in the same group, both birdied the tenth and 11th to sit just one shot back.
Englishman Bland was enjoying a brilliant afternoon with the putter, sinking lengthy efforts on the seventh, tenth and 11th as he searched for a first European Tour win in his 382nd event.
Home favourite Li had a run of four birdies from the fifth to sit 12 under, while Dane Bjerregaard had holed his approach at the par four third for eagle and then added a birdie on the eighth.
Noren recovered from that double-bogey to go birdie-eagle on the seventh and eighth but dropped a shot on the ninth, with Hatton also gaining two shots on the eighth as he turned in 33.
Hebert remained at 11 under and he was alongside Nicolas Colsaerts, Peter Hanson, Alexander Levy, Marcel Siem and Borja Virto Astudillo.
