Levon Aronian
Levon Aronian,[1] born 6 October 1982 in Yerevan, is an Armenian chess Grandmaster. He is Armenia's #1 player.[2]
| Levon Aronian | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Full name | Levon Aronian |
| Country |  Armenia |
| Title | Grandmaster |
| FIDE rating | 2792 (#4 on the Jan 2016 FIDE ratings list) |
| Peak rating | 2825 (May 2012) |
Aronian won the Chess World Cup 2005. He led the Armenian national team to the gold medals in the 37th Chess Olympiad, Turin 2006, the 38th Olympiad, Dresden 2008,[3] and the World Team Chess Championship in Ningbo, 2011. In the Chess Olympiad 2010 at Khanty-Mansiysk he won the silver medal for his individual performance on board one.[4]
He won the FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010, qualifying him for the Candidates tournament for the World Chess Championship 2012, where he was knocked out in the first round.
Aronian has had a string of outstanding tournament results since reaching the top with a joint win at Wijk aan Zee 2008.[5] His latest, and perhaps greatest victory was in January 2012, at the same Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee. The field included world #1 Magnus Carlsen, defending champion Hikaru Nakamura, and former world champion Veselin Topalov, among others. The average rating of the field was 2755, making this thirteen-round event a category 21 tournament.[6] After twelve rounds, Aronian was in clear first place with 8.5 points going into the final round, one point ahead of Carlsen and Teimour Radjabov.[7] In the final round, Aronian drew against Radjabov with the white pieces in the King's Indian Defence. With the draw, Aronian finished with 9/13 (+5), a tournament performance rating of 2891. He took clear first place a point ahead of Carlsen, Radjabov and Fabiano Caruana.[8][9]
Aronian was declared the best sportsman of Armenia in 2005,[10] and was awarded the title of "Honoured Master of Sport of the Republic of Armenia" in 2009.
Levon Aronian Media
Aronian playing Magnus Carlsen at Linares 2007
Levon Aronian vs Vladimir Kramnik at the Candidates Tournament 2018
Levon Aronian (3rd right) with his 2008 Olympiad teammates on a 2009 stamp of Armenia
Levon Aronian, chess grandmaster from Armenia
References
- ↑ Armenian: Լևոն Արոնյան
- ↑ Aronian's FIDE ranking
- ↑ Bartelski, Wojciech. "Men's Chess Olympiads: Levon Aronian". OlimpBase. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
- ↑ "2010 Chess Olympiad Statistical overview". ChessBase. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
- ↑ Wijk R13: Aronian, Carlsen win Wijk aan Zee 2008, Chessbase, 27.01.2008
- ↑ "Participants – Tata Steel Chess". Tatasteelchess.com. Archived from the original on 6 February 2012. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
- ↑ Crowther, Mark (2012-01-28). "Aronian beats Gelfand in wild game to secure at least share of Tata Steel title". Chess.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2012-09-04. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
- ↑ "Levon Aronian Wins Tata Steel 2012". Chessdom. 2012-01-29. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
- ↑ "Wijk aan Zee Rd13 Aronian is sole winner!". ChessBase.com. 2012-01-29. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
- ↑ "Aronian Presented World Cup to Armenian Community of Khanty-Mansiysk". Armtown.com. 2005-12-22. Archived from the original on 2012-07-30. Retrieved 24 January 2011.