Levon Aronian of Armenia defeated Russia's Ernesto Inarkiev in round two of FIDE Grand Prix in Palma de Mallorca.

The Armenian grandmaster is now tied for the first place with Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan), Anish Giri (the Netherlands) and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France).

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 Ding Liren, who reached the finals, have already qualified for the Candidates Tournament.