Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian continued his dominant run by defeating World No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura in the quarterfinals of the Las Vegas Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, a Chess960 tournament held at the Wynn Las Vegas from July 16–20.
The quarterfinal clash began with two rapid games—one win apiece—before Aronian secured the match by winning both blitz tiebreakers. He will now face Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi, one of the strongest rising players from India, in what promises to be a compelling semifinal. The other semifinal will feature American Grandmasters Fabiano Caruana and Hans Niemann.
The first semifinal game is scheduled for July 18 at 10:00 PM Armenia time.
Earlier in the tournament’s group stage, Aronian scored a statement victory over World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, sweeping him 2–0 in blitz tiebreaks and sending Carlsen to the lower bracket.
The event features 16 of the world’s top players competing in a 10+10 blitz round-robin format, followed by double-elimination knockout rounds. The total prize fund is $750,000, with $200,000 awarded to the champion.
