Levon Aronian, the 34-year-old Armenian world No2 who has dominated recent tournaments, took the $120,000 first prize at the World Cup in Tbilisi by beating China’s Ding Liren 4-2 in the final. Both qualified for the eight-player Candidates in Berlin in March 2018 which will decide who challenges for Magnus Carlsen’s world title later next year.

Aronian stood better in four drawn classical games but was unable to convert against Ding’s stubborn defence. He switched to a more fluid attacking style in the fifth, a speed tie-break, provoked errors and broke through for a mating attack. Faced with a must-win sixth game, Ding mishandled a promising position and was overwhelmed by a swift counter.

The problem for Aronian in Berlin will be his history of below-par results in previous Candidates, plus the presence of in-form opponents. Sergey Karjakin, who lost narrowly to Carlsen in 2016, has already qualified along with Aronian and Ding, while Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So of the US are virtually sure of the two rating spots.

Their rival, Russia’s former champion Vlad Kramnik, collapsed in the early rounds of the current Isle of Man Open, where he lost in this week’s puzzle diagram to 65-year-old James Tarjan, who was an Olympiad gold medallist before Kramnik was born, then drew with the English IM Lawrence Trent, who shrewdly found an opening to chop off most of the pieces.

Two Candidates places remain to be settled at the Grand Prix final in Palma de Mallorca in November, with France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and the Azeri Shak Mamedyarov the favourites. One place is an organiser’s wild card but there is no German with the required 2725 minimum rating.

Meanwhile the Chess.com Isle of Man Open has its final two rounds this weekend (1.30 pm start on Saturday, midday on Sunday). Carlsen took a clear lead on 6/7 but several contenders including the England No1, Michael Adams, were within striking distance. India’s 12-year-old Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa is aiming to become the youngest ever grandmaster and has a chance of his first GM norm.

As for Aronian, he will celebrate his latest victory by getting married on Saturday to his longtime fiancee Arianne Caoili. The Australian is a women’s international master, and she has been even more successful in her chosen career, learning Armenian and Russian and becoming a consultant editor of the leading newspaper in Erevan.

Aronian’s nuance in game five was 12 Rae1!? and 13 Bb1!? in place of the usual Rfe1 and Bc2. Ding could have equalised by 14…Nc5!? 15 Qa3 Qc7 16 Nxd4 Rd8 17 Ngf5 Bf8 while instead of the risky 17…g5?! the unlikely 17…Ba5! 18 Re7 Bb4 19 Re2 Bg4 keeps the balance.

There was an exchange of mistakes at move 22, when 22 Rd1? (22 Ngf5+!) allows 22…c5! and Ding is back in the game. Black’s 26…Qxh5? was capitulation when Qe6 resists, and Aronian’s 27 Kg2! set up his final assault. At the end if 30 Rh1 Qg4 31 Rh6+ Kxf5 32 Rxf6+ Ke4 30 Bxd3 mate.

Levon Aronian v Ding Liren, World Cup final, fifth game

1 c4 Nf6 2 Nf3 e6 3 Nc3 d5 4 d4 c6 5 Bg5 h6 6 Bxf6 Qxf6 7 Qb3 Nd7 8 e4 dxe4 9 Nxe4 Qf4 10 Bd3 e5 11 O-O Be7 12 Rae1!? exd4 13 Bb1!? O-O 14 Ng3 Bd8 15 Qd3 g6 16 h4 Nf6 17 h5 g5? 18 Ne5 Ba5 19 Ng6 Qd2 20 Ne7+ Kg7 21 Qb3 Qf4 22 Rd1? Bb6? 23 Ngf5+ Bxf5 24 Nxf5+ Kh8 25 g3 Qg4 26 Nxh6 Qxh5? 27 Kg2! d3 28 Qc3 Kg7 29 Nf5+ Kg6 30 Rh1 1-0

3514 1...Bf3 2 Bxf3 Qxf1 3 Be2 traps the queen. Kramnik saw that too late and also missed 3...Nxg3! 4 Bxf1 Nxf1+ 5 Kg2 Rxe1 with good chances of a draw.