Levon Aronian Clinches $200K Victory at Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Las Vegas

GM Levon Aronian outplayed GM Hans Niemann 1.5-0.5 in the finals, pulling off a positional clinic to seal the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam win in Las Vegas. The Armenian bagged $200,000 as the top prize.

The much-hyped event, staged under the flashy lights of Las Vegas, produced brutal drama from beginning to end with a confrontation many fans had labeled "written in the stars."

Sly Finale, Then Complete Dominance

Levon Aronian Clinches $200K Victory at Freestyle Chess Grand Slam

Game one wasn't an easy game for Aronian. According to Chess.com, he was holding a precarious opposite-colored bishop endgame following Niemann's acquisition of a pawn due to sophisticated middlegame positioning. Niemann had chances, but he let his opportunities slip away, enabling Aronian to cling to a draw.

Opposite-colored bishop endgames are always so tricky, and you feel that it's simple and you can do this and that, but there are always these kinds of tricky ideas," Aronian said.

Aronian played the white pieces in game two and took an immediate hold of the center, drawing parallels to the Queen's Gambit. His aggressive 17.Nb4! disrupted Niemann's coordination and set the course towards victory. That encounter has since been called the "Game of the Day" and showcased Aronian's technical mastery.

Carlsen Rebounds, Nakamura Spills Opportunity

Simultaneously, the third-place playoff between two titans of the game was won by GM Magnus Carlsen over GM Hikaru Nakamura, per Financial Times.

Nakamura's early opportunity to trap Carlsen's queen missed its mark, and the Norwegian then turned the tables in the second game with a commanding queenside advance and precise bishop play. The victory brought Carlsen $100,000, and Nakamura earned $60,000.

Nakamura summarized on his YouTube that the engine just makes it look easy, but in reality, it's much more complex. He's referring here to the computer saying that Black has the winning edge with its perfect play, but it's not how it works from a human perspective.

Aronian Targets to Win 2025 EWC

Aronian's win in Las Vegas, which he described as "one of the crown jewels" of his professional career, was also his biggest one-time payday to date. There is little respite, though, for the chess veteran—he will jet off to Saudi Arabia to compete in the $1.5 million 2025 Esports World Cup, which begins this week.

Hans Niemann, although not making the title, secured his place in the following Grand Slam tournament in South Africa, as well as the rest of the top six players, according to organizer Jan Henric Buettner.