Levon Aronian defeated Magnus Carlsen to win the South Africa leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour on Thursday.

Aronian got the better of Carlsen in the first game of their final match and drew the second to win 1.5-0.5.

World No 1 Carlsen had earlier emerged the overall champion when he reached the quarterfinals, having finished on the podium in all five legs. But Aronian might argue that he's earned the bragging rights by finishing first in the last two legs, starting with Las Vegas.

Aronian, 43, a former Armenian, who has been representing the United States since 2021, is the oldest active player after Viswanathan Anand in the top-20.

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Arjun Erigaisi was the sole Indian in the final leg, and made it as far as the quarterfinals, where he lost 0.5-1.5 to Vincent Keymer.

Aronian and Javokhir Sindarov were the only unbeaten players in the round-robin stage of the contest. The affable Aronian did not lose a game across four days of the Freestyle Chess event in South Africa.

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