diff --git a/spacy/pipeline/_parser_internals/_beam_utils.pyx b/spacy/pipeline/_parser_internals/_beam_utils.pyx
index fa7df2056..202ffb77e 100644
--- a/spacy/pipeline/_parser_internals/_beam_utils.pyx
+++ b/spacy/pipeline/_parser_internals/_beam_utils.pyx
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ cdef class BeamBatch(object):
                             beam.is_valid[i][j] = 0
 
 
-def update_beam(TransitionSystem moves, states, golds, model, int width, beam_density=0.0):
+def update_beam(TransitionSystem moves, states, golds, model, int width, beam_density=0.0, early_update=False):
     cdef MaxViolation violn
     pbeam = BeamBatch(moves, states, golds, width=width, density=beam_density)
     gbeam = BeamBatch(moves, states, golds, width=width, density=0.0)
@@ -175,6 +175,17 @@ def update_beam(TransitionSystem moves, states, golds, model, int width, beam_de
         # Track the "maximum violation", to use in the update.
         for i, violn in enumerate(violns):
             if not dones[i]:
+                if (
+                    early_update
+                    and _lowest_score_has_cost(pbeam[i])
+                    and pbeam[i].min_score > gbeam[i].score
+                ):
+                    pbeam[i].is_done = True
+                    gbeam[i].is_done = True
+                    # Make sure this state is the 'max violation',
+                    # by setting the previous violn delta
+                    # to -1
+                    violn.delta = -1
                 violn.check_crf(pbeam[i], gbeam[i])
                 if pbeam[i].is_done and gbeam[i].is_done:
                     dones[i] = True
@@ -196,6 +207,13 @@ def update_beam(TransitionSystem moves, states, golds, model, int width, beam_de
     return loss
 
 
+def _lowest_score_has_cost(beam: Beam) -> bool:
+    """Check whether the lowest-scoring candidate
+    in a parse is marked as non-gold, i.e. it has a cost
+    > 0."""
+    return beam._states[beam.size-1].loss > 0
+
+
 def collect_states(beams, docs):
     cdef StateClass state
     cdef Beam beam