Aronian Wins Freestyle Chess Grand Slam In South Africa

GM Levon Aronian defeated GM Magnus Carlsen 1.5-0.5 in the title match of the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Finals to win the $200,000 first prize. Following up on his win in Las Vegas over the summer, it's his second Grand Slam win in a row.

Carlsen finished second, GM Vincent Keymer third, GM Javokhir Sindarov fourth, GM Fabiano Caruana fifth, GM Arjun Erigaisi sixth, GM Hans Niemann seventh, and GM Parham Maghsoodloo eighth.

Upper Bracket

Lower Bracket

Thanks to his performances in the overall tour, Carlsen still wins $100,000 as the 2025 Freestyle Chess champion. Aronian earns the $50,000 bonus, and Caruana $25,000. 

Between July and December, Aronian has won nearly half a million dollars from Freestyle Chess events.

You can see the breakdown of the $750,000 prize fund for this event below.

Match For 1st: Carlsen 0.5-1.5 Aronian 

For a match against the world number-one, Aronian's victory was surprisingly smooth. In game one, the American grabbed a sacrificed pawn and converted the material to win and then held a draw in game two, even if the nerves started to show at the very end.

Strange as it is to say, Carlsen was already uncomfortable on move two in game one. His pawn sacrifice 2...e5 may not have been the best move, giving a slight advantage to White, but he took nearly 10 minutes to play it. By move six, he was already under nine minutes, while Aronian still had 27.

There were ways to gain compensation for the pawn, but Carlsen collapsed with little time. After 9...d5?, Aronian really was just a pawn up, and he converted the advantage with zero mercy.

On the surface, game two was a clean draw with 97 accuracy by both sides. But that score doesn't reflect the technique with which Aronian held the draw—a little shaky at the end, causing the commentators to worry Carlsen might have a chance to show off his notorious endgame sorcery. In the end, Aronian did hold, without any serious objective mistakes, and deservingly won the event.

Levon Aronian wins the #FreestyleChess Grand Slam in South Africa and the $200,000 prize! Not a single loss in four days! pic.twitter.com/Ha3cZ4cVru

— chess24 (@chess24com) December 11, 2025

"I'm very happy that I played so well. I'm actually a bit proud of myself," said Aronian in an interview with WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni. The highlight for him was, of course, beating the world number-one, as he said, "Magnus doesn't really like losing, so to win against him is a great feeling."

I'm actually a bit proud of myself.

—Levon Aronian

Aronian didn't lose a single one of 17 games played across four days and credited his family, his wife Ani and daughter Zabelle, for being present at the venue. "They're supporting me and giving me strength. I can highly recommend that!"

Ani, who joined the interview, played a more-than-symbolic role. When Aronian earned the right to choose his opponent in the Quarterfinals, he gave the choice to his wife, who explained her decision: "As Hans is one of the most arrogant players, I think it feels good to show off a little bit in front of him!" Aronian won that match 3-1.

Although Carlsen finished as runner-up in this event, he dominated the tour overall, finishing 37 points above Aronian in the final standings. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich also joined the broadcast remotely, during the award ceremony, to announce a potential partnership with Freestyle Chess—perhaps turning a new page on their rocky public statements from the last year?

"The new brand [#FreestyleChess] has a potential to be a success story and we are open to collaborating in a mutually beneficial way."

"FIDE recognizes [Magnus Carlsen] now as the... number-one in the world in this exciting version of chess."

- FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich pic.twitter.com/JZ87y9XaLQ

— chess24 (@chess24com) December 11, 2025

FIDE held its last Fischer Random World Championship in 2022, in Reykjavik, and GM Hikaru Nakamura won that event. Dvorkovich announced that FIDE recognizes Carlsen as the world number-one in the variant.

Match For 3rd: Keymer 2-0 Sindarov

Keymer swept Sindarov in the match for third place, though this match should take nothing away from the Uzbek's powerful performance, especially in the round-robin portion which he won. Ultimately, the only match Keymer lost was against Aronian in the Semifinals.

Keymer was pleased, saying: "I think it was a very good match for me. I'm very happy with the level of chess I showed today. I didn't leave him too many chances, so that was nice."

 I'm very happy with the level of chess I showed today.

—Vincent Keymer

Game one is our Game of the Day, and the time usage in this game also attested to the complexity of position 454. Cumulatively, the players took half an hour to reach move three, with the black pieces consuming 20 of those minutes.

Keymer later won with a blistering attack even after the queens were traded. 19.Nh6! was the beginning of a picturesque operation to chase the black king down the board and leave the black pieces uncoordinated. GM Rafael Leitao goes over the full game below.

Game two had a beautiful finish, with Keymer playing a breakthrough that would fit nicely in endgame books. He came to the confessional booth saying, "What I'm about to say could end up being very embarrassing, but I think this pawn break will just work!" And he did not have to eat his words.

Looking back on the tour overall, winning the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Weissenhaus back in February was understandably the highlight for Keymer. He said, "It still remains one of the highlights of the year... winning such a tournament, winning matches against Alireza, Magnus, and Fabi consecutively, it's not something you will ever really forget."

Winning matches against Alireza, Magnus, and Fabi consecutively, it's not something you will ever really forget.

—Vincent Keymer

The matches for fifth and seventh featured quicker time controls, with 10 minutes per player rather than the 30 minutes afforded to the top two matchups.

Match For 5th: Caruana 1.5-0.5 Arjun

Caruana won game one, and it essentially decided the match. Starting with the sequence on move 12, Arjun won a rook and pawn for two minor pieces. Chances should have been equal, if White were to find 16.Qe1. But after the less accurate 16.Qf2?, Black went about consolidating, and Arjun collapsed after throwing more wood in the fire with the sacrifice 21.Nxb5?—there was no attack.

Arjun gained some advantage in game two, but eventually Caruana got a winning position. Caruana still repeated the position three times as it was enough to win the match and finish in fifth.

Match For 7th: Niemann 3-1 Maghsoodloo

Niemann lost the first game but struck back on demand in game two. From there, he won the two blitz games to come in seventh place, leaving Maghsoodloo in last.

All three of Niemann's games finished with checkmating attacks, though Maghsoodloo only allowed one checkmate to be played on the board, in game four. Game two had the prettiest finish.

The match ended, nicely, with an actual checkmate.

That concludes the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam in South Africa, and also the tour as a whole. Congratulations to Carlsen, Aronian, and all the players, and we look forward to the tour's return in 2026! We'll end with a statement by IM Tania Sachdev, who said at the end of the show that the real MVP is GM Bobby Fischer, who created the chess variant in the first place. 

"I think the MVP is Bobby Fischer right now, for inventing this format." - @TaniaSachdev #FreestyleChess pic.twitter.com/KrRjiwV2nj

— chess24 (@chess24com) December 11, 2025

The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam South Africa is the last event of the multi-million dollar Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour and determines this year's Freestyle Champion, who earns the $200,000 first prize. The event takes place at the Grootbos Private Nature Reserve from December 8 to 11. All games are played in the freestyle chess variant.

Previous Coverage:

• • Semifinals: Carlsen 'Outlasts' Sindarov, Plays Aronian In Final On Thursday
  • Quarterfinals: Carlsen Clinches Tour With 2 Days To Spare, After Clutch Comeback
  • Group Stage: Birthday Boy Sindarov Shines Brightest On Day 1
  • Niemann Wins Diving Chess Championship In Lead-Up To Freestyle Chess Finals
  • Can Anyone Stop Carlsen From Winning The Freestyle Grand Slam Tour?