Levon Aronian won the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Las Vegas title after defeating Hans Niemann in the finals. The Armenian GM overcame world number one Magnus Carlsen in a tiebreaker before beating Hikaru Nakamura and Arjun Erigaisi to reach the final showdown. Levon joined ChessBase Indias stream and gave an interview:

Levon Aronian

Levon Aronian

American Grandmaster

I wouldn’t make big conclusions out of this, but I can say that I’m alive and I am fighting, and those are the things that I am grateful for, and I appreciate the chance that I get to play such strong tournaments. And to win in them of course is a great privilege and an honor for me

The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Las Vegas took place at Wynn Las Vegas from July 16-20, 2025. 16 players competed in the Freestyle Chess (Chess960 variant) for a $750,000 prize pool using round-robin and knockout format. The event served as the third leg of the five-tournament Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour.

Photo: Stev Bonhage/Freestyle Chess