CHESS#1270

Levon Aronian won the World Cup, beating Ding Liren in a tiebreaker. Three of the four classical games were drawn without much excitement. Aronian had chances to win Game #2 where he had failed to negotiate a delicate minor piece ending in extreme time pressure. Aronian crashed through in the first rapid tiebreaker and pulled off a swindle to win the second tiebreak from a dubious position.

Everyone except perhaps Magnus Carlsen will be happy that the Armenian GM gets a crack at the Candidates while all of China must be celebrating Ding’s ascendancy.

The top two finishers in the Grand Prix