The 18-year-old Four Continents champion starred at the Nippon Gaishi Hall in the Japanese city with a leading score of 103.32 points.

He produced two level four spins and a level four step sequence to take control of the season-ending event.

"It's great to feel that you are in the lead," said Chen. 

"Both of my quads were a little bit shaky, that was because I was nervous and a little stressed. 

"I will focus on tomorrow and for the future trust myself to use energy to put on the show as best as I can."

Only the top six from the Grand Prix season qualified for Nagoya in all of the figure skating disciplines, guaranteeing a world class line-up.

Chen's display meant Japan's Nagoya native Shoma Uno had to settle for second position on home ice before the free skate, scoring 101.51 points.

Uno fell on a triple axel and will now be playing catch-up.

Mikhail Kolyada currently sits third with the Russian scoring 99.22 points following a crash on his opening quadruple Lutz.

In the pairs short programme, Germany's World Championship silver medallists Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot shrugged off costume malfunctions to take the lead on 79.43 points.

A triple twist and a side-by-side triple Salchow and a throw triple Lutz were the highlights of their routine.

"When I landed the jump I felt that the skating boot was soft and when I did the throw I was sure that it was broken," Massot said.

Savchenko added: "I liked best today that we did all elements clean, in spite of Bruno's lace being broken and my dress being broken. 

"The zipper of my dress broke. 

"We fought until the end."

Russia's European champions Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov are less than a point behind in second on 78.82 points with China's world champions Wenjing Sui and Cong Han third on 75.82.

In the ice dance competition, France's two-time world champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron took control with a score of 82.07 points.

Their rumba and samba routine received 12 perfect ten scores for components.

Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, the reigning world champions, are second on 81.53 with American brother-and-sister combination Maia and Alex Shibutani third on 78.09.

The ladies event will begin in Nagoya tomorrow with the men's event reaching its conclusion.

Free skating for ladies, pairs and ice dancing will conclude the competition on Saturday (December 9).