Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronian beat Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan to reach the Chessable Masters semifinals on Wednesday, August 4, chess24.com reports.

Mamedyarov had won four games with the black pieces in a row to defeat Aronian when they met in the 3rd place match of the New in Chess Classic, and he had a lot of pressure with black in their first game of the Chessable Masters quarterfinals. Levon held, however, and explained his strategy: "I was trying to calculate a lot and focus and keep my attention the whole time, because he’s a very tricky player."

In the next game, however, it was Levon who emerged victorious in a tricky endgame.

Mamedyarov needed to hit back, but instead he went down in flames after a wild game in which queens disappeared and reappeared on the board. There were too many twists to summariզe, but Aronian noted it had been fun.

Since I was leading in the match it’s kind of a risk-free environment, so it’s pleasant just to try and score a win if possible. It’s a situation that of course it’s very pleasant to get.

He sealed victory in both the game and the match.