Аronian to join Freestyle Chess World Championship

PanARMENIAN.Net - Former captain of Armenia’s national chess team, Levon Aronian, now representing the United States, will participate in the first official Freestyle Chess World Championship under the auspices of FIDE. The tournament will be held in Weissenhaus, Germany, from February 13 to 15.

The Freestyle Chess World Championship became possible after FIDE and Freestyle Chess signed a cooperation agreement on January 7.

Eight players will compete in the tournament, six of whom qualified through the Grand Slam Tour.

Confirmed participants include Levon Aronian, Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Fabiano Caruana (U.S.), Vincent Keymer (Germany), Arjun Erigaisi (India), and Javokhir Sindarov (Uzbekistan). FIDE and Freestyle Chess will each nominate one additional player. Freestyle Chess has already nominated Hans Niemann.

The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour features a series of tournaments held in the Fischer Random format, spanning five stages. Aronian won the most recent leg in Cape Town, where he defeated 16th World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen in the final.