diff --git a/spacy/syntax/parser.pyx b/spacy/syntax/parser.pyx
index b860425cd..4be1046bc 100644
--- a/spacy/syntax/parser.pyx
+++ b/spacy/syntax/parser.pyx
@@ -107,8 +107,9 @@ cdef class Parser:
         cdef Beam beam = Beam(self.moves.n_moves, self.cfg.beam_width)
         beam.initialize(_init_state, tokens.length, tokens.data)
         beam.check_done(_check_final_state, NULL)
+        words = [w.orth_ for w in tokens]
         while not beam.is_done:
-            self._advance_beam(beam, None, False)
+            self._advance_beam(beam, None, False, words)
         state = <StateClass>beam.at(0)
         self.moves.finalize_state(state)
         tokens.set_parse(state._sent)
@@ -147,9 +148,10 @@ cdef class Parser:
         gold.check_done(_check_final_state, NULL)
 
         violn = MaxViolation()
+        words = [w.orth_ for w in tokens]
         while not pred.is_done and not gold.is_done:
-            self._advance_beam(pred, gold_parse, False)
-            self._advance_beam(gold, gold_parse, True)
+            self._advance_beam(pred, gold_parse, False, words)
+            self._advance_beam(gold, gold_parse, True, words)
             violn.check(pred, gold)
         if pred.loss >= 1:
             counts = {clas: {} for clas in range(self.model.n_classes)}
@@ -162,7 +164,7 @@ cdef class Parser:
         _cleanup(gold)
         return pred.loss
 
-    def _advance_beam(self, Beam beam, GoldParse gold, bint follow_gold):
+    def _advance_beam(self, Beam beam, GoldParse gold, bint follow_gold, words):
         cdef atom_t[CONTEXT_SIZE] context
         cdef int i, j, cost
         cdef bint is_valid
@@ -176,13 +178,11 @@ cdef class Parser:
         if gold is not None:
             for i in range(beam.size):
                 stcls = <StateClass>beam.at(i)
-                self.moves.set_costs(beam.costs[i], stcls, gold)
-                if follow_gold:
-                    n_true = 0
-                    for j in range(self.moves.n_moves):
-                        beam.is_valid[i][j] *= beam.costs[i][j] == 0
-                        n_true += beam.is_valid[i][j]
-                    assert n_true >= 1
+                if not stcls.is_final():
+                    self.moves.set_costs(beam.costs[i], stcls, gold)
+                    if follow_gold:
+                        for j in range(self.moves.n_moves):
+                            beam.is_valid[i][j] *= beam.costs[i][j] == 0
         beam.advance(_transition_state, _hash_state, <void*>self.moves.c)
         beam.check_done(_check_final_state, NULL)
 
@@ -213,6 +213,7 @@ cdef int _transition_state(void* _dest, void* _src, class_t clas, void* _moves)
 
 cdef void* _init_state(Pool mem, int length, void* tokens) except NULL:
     cdef StateClass st = StateClass.init(<const TokenC*>tokens, length)
+    st.push()
     Py_INCREF(st)
     return <void*>st