Las Vegas, July 21 (IANS) Levon Aronian captured his first Freestyle Chess Grand Slam crown at Wynn Las Vegas, defeating Hans Niemann 1.5-0.5 in the final.

World no.1 Carlsen finished third after beating Hikaru Nakamura 1.5-.5. and took home USD 160,000. Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi defated Fabiano Caruana 2-0 to take fifth place, while Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu overcame Wesley So 1.5-0.5 to finish seventh.

The 42-year-old Aronian, who earlier in the week knocked out both Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, sealed the title and the USD 200,000 first prize by converting a dominant second game after an opening draw.

“It’s one of the biggest victories in my life, definitely the biggest when you count the prize fund. I am extremely happy and grateful for the opportunity,” said Aronian, as was quoted by Freestyle Chess.

Niemann, however, came close to his biggest career win but had to settle for the runner-up spot and USD 140,000.

World no.1 Carlsen beat Hikaru Nakamura 1.5-.5. to take third place and USD 160,000. After a balanced draw in the first game, Carlsen pressed in the second, converting his advantage to clinch third place. The result keeps Carlsen atop the overall Grand Slam Tour standings despite missing out on the title fight in Las Vegas, Freestyle Chess reports.

Caruana seemed the have more energy that the day before, and it showed on the board. He took down the strong Indian Arjun twice, and took fifth place in the tournament.

Praggnanandhaa finished in seventh place thanks to a two-game victory over So. His win over So came in the second game, where the American grandmaster suffered a similar fate as against Nakamura where he just didn’t really get out of the opening.

This time, the trouble was based on a long tactical line that just wasn’t good for Black. His rook got trapped so he lost an exchange, and Praggnanandhaa didn’t have trouble converting it.

After winning three tournaments earlier this year and showing some pretty good chess, Praggnanandha wasn’t fully satisfied with where he finished.

“Seventh doesn’t sound well, but I feel I played much better than (where) I finished at the end. At these crucial moments I didn’t show show my best I guess. I should have won yesterday. I think I should learn to make some draws because I was not making them when I needed to,” Praggnanandha said.

–IANS

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