Levon Aronian wins FTX Road to Miami

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian GM Levon Aronian, who currently represents the United States, won the FTX Road to Miami tournament on Sunday, July 18 after a convincing second match victory vs. GM Wei Yi.

The American-Armenian grandmaster won both of his games with the black pieces, Chess.com reports.

Sunday's match was a must-win for Wei, but the Chinese GM never got serious chances. As the tournament progressed, Aronian seemed to be playing better chess by the day. Interestingly, he won only with the black pieces in both his semifinal and the final.

"He was playing extremely sharp and he was close," said Aronian. "In the time scrambles he was making some mistakes but if not for that, it could have gone either way, of course."

Aronian also noted his "steady improvement" in this tournament: "I didn't really deserve to be in the top eight because my play was very poor, but after that I think I got myself together."