Champions Showdown: Levon Aronian defeated by Garry Kasparov

In the fifth round of Champions Showdown Chess 9LX in St. Louis, Levon Aronian competed with world’s 13^th champion, 58-year-old Russia-based Garry Kasparov, who played with black figures and won in the 66^th step.

In the first four rounds, the 38-year-old Armenian chess grandmaster defeated Hikaru Nakamura, was defeated by Peter Svidler, tied the match with Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

With 2 points, Aronian shares the 7^th-8^th places with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.

In the remaining 4 rounds, Aronian’s opponents will be Wesley So, Sam Shankland and Leinier Dominguez.

The tournament will end on September 11. The prize fund is $150,000, and the winner will receive $37,500.