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Freestyle Chess Las Vegas winner Aronian tops group in Esports World Cup Chess Qualifier; Gujrathi knocked out
Levon Aronian had defeated Hans Niemann 1.5-0.5 to win the Las Vegas leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. Image credit: Freestyle Chess
Grandmaster Levon Aronian appeared to have carried on from where he left off in Las Vegas, where he had won the fourth leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour earlier this month, topping the 'Group of Death' in the Last Chance Qualifier for the 2025 Esports World Cup.
The Armenian-born American GM finished ahead of India's Vidit Gujrathi as well as Dmitry Andreikin and Daniil Dubov, with the likes of Alexey Sarana, Marc'Andria Maurizzi, and Jules Moussard advancing from Group A – which comprises 10 Grandmasters.
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Gujrathi's compatriot Nihal Sarin advanced from Group B along with topper Oleksandr Bortnyk, as well as Andrey Esipenko, and Ahmed Adly. Group C and D of the Last Chance Qualifier is scheduled to take place later on Friday.
Gujrathi and Dubov had finished joint-seventh in Group A after collecting 4.5 points in seven games – an entire point behind Aronian and the others who progressed from the group. Bortnik, meanwhile, topped Group B with 6 points while Sarin finished joint-second along with Esipenko and Adly on 5.5.
Praggnanandhaa in action later on Friday
Top-ranked Indian R Praggnanandhaa will be in action in Group C later on Friday, where he is set to face tough competition from GMs Anish Giri, Vincent Keymer and Javokhir Sindarov.
The Last Chance Qualifier for the ESports World Cup features 130-plus players across four groups in a seven-round Swiss open. The top four from each group will then qualify for the Playoffs, which features a 16-player double-elimination knockout.
The top-four players from the Playoffs will then advance to the ESports World Cup in Riyadh, where chess makes its debut this year with the action set to get underway on 29 July. A prize fund of $1.5 million has been set aside for chess at the event, including $250,000 for the winner.
A total of 16 players comprising some of the biggest names in chess will be in action at the event, with 12 of them having already been confirmed on the basis of their standings in the 2025 Champions Chess Tour.
That includes Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana – the world's top-three – along with India's Arjun Erigaisi, who had signed with Esports organisation Gen.G earlier this year.
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