Stepping in at the last minute to replace world #1 Veselin Topalov, Levon Aronian of Armenia - who was second to Topalov at the qualifying Nanjing Grand Slam event - was, in more ways than one, the biggest winner at the recently concluded Grand Slam Masters Final in Bilbao, Spain.

Despite an auspicious start by losing in the opening round, Aronian never looked back. He won four-in-a-row to secure the title before the final round, thanks to the football scoring system (3-1-0) in place. His final score was 13/18, well ahead of Alexander Grischuk on 8-points, Sergey Karjakin on 7-points, and Alexei Shirov on 3-points.

Not only that, but the amiable Armenian, with a TPR of 2919, moved up the world rankings to third spot in the Live Ratings, overtaking Magnus Carlsen in the process, and now just tantalizingly four points adrift of world champion Vishwanathan Anand in second spot.

You can follow Aronian’s success below in our GOTDs from Bilbao - which naturally enough features 4 of the winner’s games!