Levon Grigori Aronian (Armenian: Լևոն Գրիգորի Արոնյան, romanized: Levon Grigori Aronyan; born 6 October 1982) is an Armenian-American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he earned the title of grandmaster in 2000, at age 17. He is a former world rapid and blitz champion and has held the No. 2 position in the March 2014 FIDE world chess rankings with a rating of 2830,[4] becoming the fourth highest-rated player in history.
Aronian won the FIDE World Cup in 2005 and 2017. He led the Armenian national team to the gold medals in the Chess Olympiads of 2006 (Turin), 2008 (Dresden) and 2012 (Istanbul)[5] and at the World Team Chess Championship in Ningbo 2011. He won the FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010, qualifying him for the Candidates Tournament for the World Chess Championship 2012. He was also world champion in Chess960 in 2006 and 2007, in rapid chess in 2009, and in blitz chess in 2010.
Aronian has been the leading Armenian chess player since the early 2000s.[6] His popularity in Armenia has led to him being called a celebrity[7] and a hero.[8] He was named the best sportsman of Armenia in 2005[9] and was awarded the title of Honoured Master of Sport of the Republic of Armenia in 2009. In 2012, he was awarded the Order of St. Mesrop Mashtots.[10] In 2016, CNN called Aronian the "David Beckham of chess".[11]
Aronian announced his decision to transfer from the Armenian chess federation to the United States federation in late February 2021, citing a decline in government support for the sport as his motivation.[12] The transfer was completed in December 2021.[13]
^"Transfers in 2003". FIDE. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
^"Transfers in 2004". FIDE. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
^"Transfers in 2021". FIDE. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
^Scimia, Edward. "World Championship Candidate Levon Aronian". about.com. Archived from the original on 12 May 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2014. ...for the last decade [...] leading Armenia to victory in team competition and being constantly in the World Championship discussion.
^"Players 2013". Norway Chess. Retrieved 23 June 2014. Aronian is a major celebrity in his chess-loving home country.
^Davies, Caroline; Pein, Malcolm (7 June 2006). "Pawn queens". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 25 August 2013. And Mr Aronian enjoys a similar level of hero-worship to, say, David Beckham.
^"Aronian Presented World Cup to Armenian Community of Khanty-Mansiysk". Armtown.com. 22 December 2005. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
^"Levon Aronyan awarded St. Mesrop Mashtots Order". Mediamax.am. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
^McKenzie, Sheena (1 February 2016). "Pawn star: How the 'David Beckham of chess' became a national hero". CNN. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
^Shah, Sagar (27 February 2021). "Levon Aronian relocates to Saint Louis and will represent the USA". Chessbase India.
^Svensen, Tarjei. "Levon Aronian relocates to Saint Louis and will represent the USA". Chess 24.
Levon Grigori Aronian (Armenian: Լևոն Գրիգորի Արոնյան, romanized: Levon Grigori Aronyan; born 6 October 1982) is an Armenian-American chess grandmaster...
event were LevonAronian, Hikaru Nakamura, Veselin Topalov, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Carlsen lost to Caruana in round 3 and defeated Aronian and Nakamura...
with probably Fischer second and Karpov third. In a 2012 interview, LevonAronian stated that he considers Alexander Alekhine the best player of all time...
tiebreak from LevonAronian.[citation needed] Kramnik played a friendly match against LevonAronian, which finished 3–3 (with a win for Aronian in a rapid...
his first Olympiad. On the first board for Italy he played against LevonAronian in the first round, Viktor Korchnoi in the fourth round, Michael Adams...
Grenkeleasing Rapid championship for the tenth time, defeating LevonAronian. Just a few days before, Aronian had defeated Anand in the Chess960 final. In March 2007...
August 2009, Nakamura became the 960 World Chess Champion, beating GM LevonAronian 3½–½ in Mainz, Germany. In November 2009, Nakamura participated in the...
Firouzja, Daniil Dubov, Peter Svidler and Vidit Gujrathi, only losing to LevonAronian in tie breaks in a hard-fought match. In October 2021, Arjun placed...
This is discussed by LevonAronian and Yasser Seirawan in Round 3 of St Louis' 2022 Chess 9LX tournament for move 18 of Aronian's game against Leinier...
with green background. Karjakin–Anand, round 4 Topalov–Karjakin, round 5 Aronian–Nakamura, round 6 The first round saw Anand beat Topalov after mutual blunders...
the tournament Carlsen was considered the favourite, with Kramnik and Aronian being deemed his biggest rivals. Ivanchuk was considered an uncertain variable...
Originally, the intended venue for the candidate matches was Baku, but LevonAronian announced that he would not play in Azerbaijan and matches involving...
even; Karjakin −1, and So and Aronian −2. 2016 challenger Karjakin had suffered two losses in the early rounds. Aronian, one of the pre-tournament favourites...
Vachier-Lagrave, and LevonAronian, he was a 2019 Grand Chess Tour finalist. Ding went on to win the Grand Chess Tour final, beating Aronian in the semi-finals...
40th Chess Olympiad drew against numerous top-level players including LevonAronian, who described So as a "talented player from a country with a great...
early queenside attack by White, he improved on an earlier game between LevonAronian and Michael Adams. He soon had a clear advantage, his c-pawn on the...
Georgia, from 2 to 27 September 2017. It was won by Armenian grandmaster LevonAronian. This was the second time he had won the Chess World Cup, 12 years after...
consisted of two rounds of matches as originally planned. World Cup winner Aronian was top seed, with the remaining players seeded in rating order according...
Vladimir Kramnik, Garry Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand, Veselin Topalov, LevonAronian, Sergey Karjakin, and Magnus Carlsen. Of the ten World Chess Champions...
the tournament Carlsen was considered the favourite, with Kramnik and Aronian being deemed his biggest rivals. Ivanchuk was considered an uncertain variable...
finished on 5½/9, tying for first place with LevonAronian and Ian Nepomniachtchi. He came second to Aronian in the tiebreaks. In the August 2023 rating...
Wei Yi was runner-up in the FTX Road to Miami tournament, losing to LevonAronian in the finals. In September, Wei Yi won a gold medal in the Men's individual...
2008 "LevonAronian's girlfriend happy for engagement". armenpress.am. Retrieved 21 September 2017. "I am not so stupid to play against LevonAronian - Arianne...
Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Leinier Domínguez, Alexander Grischuk, LevonAronian, Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, and Jeffery Xiong. Carlsen won the event...
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