Grand Chess Tour organizers announced that American GM Levon Aronian will be unable to participate in the Super Chess Classic Romania due to health reasons. Dutch GM Jorden van Foreest will replace Aronian as a full-tour player.

Levon Aronian commented on his withdrawal from the tournament in a post on X. Aronian explains that his current condition is normal, and notes the seriousness of the pneumonia’s consequences.

Levon Aronian

Levon Aronian

American GM

“Dear friends, the good news is that I’m currently safe and everything is under control!

But pneumonia and its complications are not a joke. Thank God, I’m doing much better now, and as the doctors said, with the progress we are making, there will be no impact on my general health.

My expected time off from chess will be 4 to 7 weeks.”

Grand Chess Tour 2026 will take place in Poland, Romania, Croatia and USA from May 3 to August 28. The event features a $2,000,000 prize pool across 2 Classical tournaments, 3 Rapid & Blitz events and the Grand Finals. American GM Levon Aronian remains among the participants of the Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia event.

Credit: Lennart Ootes