GM Levon Aronian made a statement at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Las Vegas on Wednesday by defeating GM Magnus Carlsen 2-0 in a tiebreak showdown, keeping his chances alive of winning the $200,000 first prize, and in the process, condemning Carlsen to the lower bracket.
Aronian will be joined in the quarterfinals by fellow group A qualifiers: GMs Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and Javokhir Sindarov, as well as group B’s qualifiers: GMs Hikaru Nakamura, Hans Niemann, Arjun Erigaisi, and Fabiano Caruana, the former of whom scored an indomitable 6/7.
The quarterfinals will commence on Thursday, July 17, starting at 2 p.m. ET / 20:00 CEST / 11.30 p.m. IST.
Group A Standings
Group B Standings
The Las Vegas Freestyle Chess Grand Slam took The Entertainment Capital of the World by storm on Wednesday as the $750,000 main event commenced at the iconic Wyn luxury resort and casino on the city’s famed strip.
The Freestyle Grand Slam and Chesstival are coming to Las Vegas!
Get your tickets 15% off this weekend only with code “PLAYIN15” in reply 👇 pic.twitter.com/W0iRvUNrLi
— Chess.com (@chesscom) June 20, 2025
Carlsen, Nakamura, Niemann, Caruana, and Praggnanandhaa were five of 16 esteemed players to participate in the group stage of the event, and the most notable change to the format was the swap from classical rapid time controls.
After being split into two groups, the participants played a 10+10 round robin, with the top four players in each group progressing to the upper bracket. Only these players will be eligible for the first and second prizes.
Drama erupted on the eve of the tournament at the technical meeting. While such meetings are usually brief, box-ticking processes, it took 51 minutes of tense discussions to finalize the tournament regulations.
Upon discovering that spectators would be allowed to bring phones into the playing hall, and that no delay would be applied to the live stream, Caruana protested, eventually stating: “I think this can’t be how it is. This is not at all serious.” Niemann labelled it “a circus” soon after.
Some time later, the co-founder and chief benefactor of Freestyle Chess, Jan Henric Buettner stepped in and attempted to disolve the tension, before Carlsen spoke in support of the spectators: “It’s a live experience, people may have come from a long way to watch our event and we’re going to saddle them with not watching it live? It’s nonsense.” Carlsen walked out of the meeting 15 minutes before it concluded.
Saw some clip from yet another technical meeting of my good friends.
Oh boy.😅
— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) July 16, 2025
Group A – Thrilling Tiebreak Squashes Carlsen’s Hopes
The group stage was no less dramatic than the technical meeting, although chess, rather than quarrelling, took center stage. In group A, Sindarov was the only unbeaten player, however he only managed to win two of his seven games. One of his wins came against Aronian, who uncharacteristically hung a rook.
Praggnanandhaa was the most consistent player in the group—he scored three straight wins from rounds two to four, the latter of which was a gritty win over the pre-tournament favorite Carlsen.
Praggnanandhaa beats Carlsen and takes the sole lead in their group on 3.5/4! https://t.co/bULo6wDydU pic.twitter.com/uQvC0ljLzK
— chess24 (@chess24com) July 16, 2025
The Indian number one only had one blip on his scorecard, a round six loss to Aronian, though he secured first in the group regardless.
Perhaps inspired by the host city, Carlsen’s appetite for risk grew as the day wore on. Clearly shaken by his loss to Praggnanandhaa, he blundered checkmate in four in an equal position against GM Wesley So in round five.
Carlsen hit back and scored 1.5/2 in his final games and scraped into equal fourth, forcing a two-game tiebreaker against Aronian for a Quarterfinals spot. The mini-match that ensued was dubbed by one Twitch viewer “absolute theater,” and the 2-0 scoreline didn’t reflect the tension of the match.
To augment the atmosphere, Niemann, who was evidently backing Aronian, joined the commentary box and shared his thoughts during the match.
The second game, which clinched the match for Aronian, was our Game of the Day, and this will be analyzed by GM Rafael Leitao and added shortly.
Group B – Nakamura Goes Unbeaten
In group B, Niemann got off to a flying start, shattering Arjun in 20 moves and followed this up by grinding down GM Ray Robson in a bishop vs. knight endgame. His duel with Arjun was the shortest game he played on Wednesday, courtesy of a flurry of tactical shots that targeted Arjun’s king.
Niemann suffered back-to-back losses to Nakamura and Caruana at the tail-end of the day, marring an otherwise impressive start.
While speaking to the Chess.com commentary team, he suggested that he was “outplaying” both players in the respective games, but lost since there was “nothing on the line.”
Nakamura and Caruana were the only players who went unbeaten in this group, however, the latter only won a single game, against Niemann, while Nakamura carved out five wins and two draws.
The five-time Freestyle Friday winner barely put a foot wrong in all seven rounds and capped off with a win over the struggling GM Vidit Gujrathi.
The second day of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam will see players in both brackets duke it out in two-game matches with an increased time control of 30+30.
In the upper bracket, the first placed finisher in each group will choose their opponent out of the third and fourth placed finishers in the other group, while the second placed finisher will automatically play the unselected player.
The top ranked player will also choose which color they start with, and the player who loses the match will drop to the lower bracket.
Time will tell which players Praggnanandhaa and Nakamura will elect to play in the Quarterfinals, and sleeping on this decision will undoubtedly give them a handy advantage heading into the next phase of the event.
Prize Fund
How to Watch
The $750,000 3rd leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam will be played in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 16th – 20th. Participants include GMs Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Arjun Erigaisi, Fabiano Caruana, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Wesley So, Levon Aronian, Leinier Dominguez and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa. All games are played in freestyle chess.
Previous Coverage:
