Magnus Carlsen will fight against Levon Aronian to claim the South Africa leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour after defeating Javokhir Sindarov in the semi-finals in a clash that went into tiebreaks. Carlsen has already secured the 2025 Grand Slam Tour title earlier in the event. In the final, Carlsen will take on Aronian while Vincent Keymer and Javokhir Sindarov fight for third place. Meanwhile, India’s Arjun Erigaisi will face Fabiano Caruana for the fifth place spot and Hans Niemann will face Parham Maghsoodloo in the match for seventh spot.
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Now, for a takeaway cheque of $200,000, Carlsen will face off against the veteran Aronian, who also had to defeat Vincent Keymer in tiebreaks.
In the semi-final, Carlsen took the lead against Javokhir Sindarov in game one. But the Uzbek grandmaster, who recently won the FIDE World Cup in Goa, came back with victory in what was a must-win game 2 with black pieces, leveling the match and forcing the matter into a blitz tiebreak. Carlsen won the first blitz game and produced a miraculous save in the critical second one.
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In the second semifinal, Vincent Keymer had Aronian under pressure for long stretches of their second game but missed his opponent’s extraordinary escape. The match moved into a tiebreak, where Aronian capitalized in blitz, winning 2–0 to reach his second Grand Final of the season.
In Las Vegas in July, he won the event in a final against Hans Niemann. This time, it will be world number one Carlsen he must overcome — “a great privilege,” Aronian said after the tiebreaks.
With both semifinals decided, the placement matches are set. Keymer and Sindarov will contest the match for third place, while Fabiano Caruana and Arjun Erigaisi meet in the match for fifth. Caruana defeated Parham Maghsoodloo in the lower bracket, and Arjun beat Niemann after a strong tiebreak performance.
Below are all matchups for Thursday:
Grand Final:
• Magnus Carlsen vs. Levon Aronian
Match for 3rd:
• Vincent Keymer vs. Javokhir Sindarov
Match for 5th:
• Fabiano Caruana vs. Arjun Erigaisi
Match for 7th:
• Hans Niemann vs. Parham Maghsoodloo