Levon Aronian dominates Freestyle Grand Slam 2025 Finals, Magnus Carlsen second
Garry Kasparov once famously tweeted, "The chess world is a better place when Levon Aronian is playing well". One can argue about a thousand things which Kasparov said, but it is difficult to disagree with his words on Aronian. The maestro started the Grand Final with a victory over Magnus Carlsen after the latter incorrectly developed his queen. The only two-time World Cup winner in history sacrificed an exchange to gain the upperhand. Later on he got a couple of pawns which he used to win the game. The second game ended in draw. Thus, Aronian won Freestyle Grand Slam Tour 2025 Finals. The Armenian Lion won the event convincingly without conceding a single loss. He also won his second consecutive Freestyle Grand Slam event after winning the Las Vegas leg. Carlsen won Freestyle Grand Slam Tour two days ago when he won the Quarterfinals. Photos: Aditya Sur Roy
Vincent Keymer finishes third, Arjun Erigaisi sixth
Arjun Erigaisi lost the first game against Fabiano Caruana and drew the second. Thus, Caruana finished fifth and Arjun sixth at this event.
Grand Final 1 and 2: Starting position - 454 and 807
Aronian - Carlsen: 1.5-0.5
Levon Aronian (USA) struck first when Magnus Carlsen (NOR) went wrong early in the game.
Aronian - Carlsen, Game 1
11...Qf7? allowed 12.Bc4 relative pin Qf5 13.0-0-0 Kb8 14.Rd5 Qf8 15.Rxd6! a nice exchange sacrifice Rxd6 16.Nxd6 Qxd6 17.Rd1 Qe7 18.Re1 Na5 19.Bd3 Qd7 20.f5 Nd8 21.Bf4 White returned the exchange sacrifice and eventually used his extra pawns to win the game. The second game ended in a draw comfortably.
Replay Aronian - Carlsen games
Replay live stream
Replay all Grand Final and 3rd-8th place games
Schedule
8th December: Round-Robin stage - Rapid
9th December: Quarterfinals
10th December: Semifinals and 5th - 8th place
11th December: Finals, 3rd, 5th and 7th place
Time control
Knockout stage: Game 1+2 = 30’+15’’ / Game 3+4 = 5’+2’’ / Game 5 = Armageddon
Grand Final results
| 2 | GM | Aronian Levon | USA | 2772 | 1 | ½ | 1½ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | GM | Carlsen Magnus | NOR | 2923 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
3rd place results
| 1 | GM | Keymer Vincent | GER | 2752 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | GM | Sindarov Javokhir | UZB | 2704 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
5th place results
| 2 | GM | Erigaisi Arjun | IND | 2744 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | GM | Caruana Fabiano | USA | 2797 | 1 | ½ | 1½ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
7th place results
| 1 | GM | Maghsoodloo Parham | IRI | 2717 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | GM | Niemann Hans Moke | USA | 2712 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Links
