Armenia grandmaster Levon Aronian sole leader of FIDE Grand Prix

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronian is the sole leader of the FIDE Grand Prix after the tournament's fourth round ended in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

Aronian was, as always, his brilliant best as he defeated Anish Giri of the Netherlands in a beautiful game on Sunday, November 19.

Aronian had also defeated Ernesto Inarkiev (Russia) and draw with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) and Dmitry Jakovenko (Russia).

After four rounds, the Armenian grandmaster has three points and is followed by MVL, Peter Svidler (Russia), Ding Liren (China), Pentala Harikrishna (India) and Hikaru Nakamura (United States) with 2.5 points each.

Round fifth of the FIDE Grand Prix will be held on Monday.

The FIDE Grand Prix 2017 is a series of four chess tournaments that form part of the qualification cycle for the World Chess Championship 2018. The top two finishers will qualify for the 2018 Candidates Tournament.

Aronian who won the World Chess Cup in September, as well as Liren, who reached the finals, have already qualified for the Candidates Tournament.