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.
GM Magnus 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.
This is a flash report. Come back later to read the full article, which will be added to this page!
Upper Bracket
Lower Bracket
Thanks to his performances in the overall tour, Carlsen still wins the $100,000 tour prize. Aronian earns the $50,000 bonus, and Caruana $25,000.
You can see the $750,000 prize fund breakdown below.
GM Rafael Leitao's analysis of the Game of the Day will be added later.
How to Rewatch
You can rewatch the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Finals on the Chess.com YouTube or Twitch channels and Chess24 YouTube and Twitch channels. You can also check out the results on our dedicated events page.
The Pro Stream featured GMs Peter Leko and Judit Polgar, and GM Niclas Huschenbeth, while the Community Stream featured GM David Howell, IM Tania Sachdev, and James “Dash” Patterson.
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.
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