World Cup, Round 7 Tiebreaks: Aronian Defeats Ding Liren 2-0, Wins the Tournament

A great event, especially for Levon Aronian, comes to a close. Ding Liren was in serious trouble in a couple of the classical games, so it's not too surprising that Aronian was able to break through at the shorter time controls. Despite the 2-0 triumph in the 25-minute games, Aronian was fortunate to win the second game, as Ding was winning at one point. (Replay the games here, with my notes.)

This is Aronian's second World Cup victory - he also won the inaugural event in 2005 (the World Cup-like tournaments in the preceding years were FIDE World Championships). And while Ding was the runner-up, he is the first Chinese player to make the Candidates, so congratulations to both players. And a further congratulations to Levon Aronian, who will marry his very long-time girlfriend and fiancee Arianne Caoili this Saturday.