Levon Aronian
Encyclopedia
Levon Grigor Aronian is an Armenia
n chess
Grandmaster
and the reigning World Blitz Chess Champion. On the September 2011 FIDE list, he has an Elo
rating of 2807, making him number three in the world and Armenia
's number one. He won the Chess World Cup 2005
.
Aronian led the Armenian national team to the Gold medals in the 2006 (Turin)
and 2008 (Dresden)
Chess Olympics 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 the World Chess960
Champion in 2006 and 2007, the World Rapid Chess Champion in 2009, and is the current World Blitz Chess Champion.
Aronian was declared the best sportsman of Armenia in 2005 and was awarded the title of "Honoured Master of Sport of the Republic of Armenia" in 2009.
and Grigory Leontievich, a physicist
. He was taught to play chess by his sister Lilit at the age of nine. His first coach was the Grandmaster Melikset Khachiyan
. An early sign of his ability came when he won the 1994 World Youth Chess Championship
(under-12) in Szeged
with 8/9, ahead of future luminaries Étienne Bacrot
, Ruslan Ponomariov
, Francisco Vallejo Pons
, and Alexander Grischuk
.
Aronian holds a diploma from the Armenian State Institute of Physical Culture
.
. In the same year he became World Junior Champion
, scoring 10/13 and finishing ahead of Surya Ganguly, Artyom Timofeev
, Luke McShane
, Bu Xiangzhi
, Pendyala Harikrishna
, and others.
before being knocked out by Pavel Smirnov
.
with Zahar Efimenko
, Kiril Georgiev
, Alexei Shirov
, and Emil Sutovsky
. He was the sole winner of the Karabakh
2005 International "A" Tournament. In the Russian Team Championship, he scored with an Elo performance rating of around 2850. In December he beat Ruslan Ponomariov
of Ukraine
in the final round to win the World Cup
in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia. After a draw
in two regular games, Aronian won both Rapid games to win the event and emerge undefeated in seven rounds.
, half a point ahead of Teimour Radjabov
and FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov
. In 2006 he also tied for first in the Tal Memorial
. The April–July 2006 FIDE rating list ranked Aronian the number three player in the world.
in Wijk aan Zee along with Veselin Topalov
and Radjabov. In May 2007 he defeated World Champion
Vladimir Kramnik
4–2 in a Rapid chess match.
His 2005 World Cup victory qualified him for the Candidates Tournament of the World Chess Championship 2007
, scheduled for May–June 2007. In this tournament he played GM Magnus Carlsen
, and they tied 3–3 in the initial six games, then 2–2 in Rapid chess, and finally Aronian won 2–0 at Blitz chess
. In the finals, he defeated Shirov 3½–2½. This qualified him for the final stage of the championship, which was played in Mexico. There, he scored only six points out of 14, finishing seventh out of eight players.
jointly with Magnus Carlsen
, scoring 8/13. In March 2008 he won the Melody Amber
Blindfold/Rapid tournament held in Nice
, France, 2½ points ahead of the other nearest competitors. Apart from his first place win in the overall tournament, he also took sole first place in the Rapid section of the tournament (winning by a margin of 1½ points) and shared first place in the Blindfold section with three other chess grandmasters: Kramnik, Morozevich, and Topalov. In June 2008, Aronian won the Karen Asrian Memorial Rapid chess tournament in Yerevan
. He finished 8½/14 ahead of Peter Leko
.
Blindfold/Rapid tournament held in Nice
, France for the second time, scoring a combined 14 points in 22 games. In the same year he took clear first place with four wins, one draw, and one loss in the second Bilbao
Masters. On August 3, 2009 Aronian won the World Rapid Chess Championship. In November 2009 he competed in the Mikhail Tal Memorial
, at the time the strongest tournament in history (in terms of average Elo, 2763). He finished fourth with 5/9, and in the final round memorably demolished World Champion Viswanathan Anand
with the black pieces in just 25 moves. In December 2009, he was awarded the title of "Honoured Master of Sport of the Republic of Armenia".
In August 2010, he attempted to defend the World Rapid Chess title, but lost to eventual champion American Gata Kamsky
. In September 2010, Aronian played in the preliminary stage of the Bilbao Grand Slam in Shanghai against Vladimir Kramnik
, Alexei Shirov
, and Wang Hao
, but could not qualify for the final tournament after losing to Kramnik in an Armageddon game after they drew the tiebreaker match. His next tournament was the Chess Olympiad, where he was Armenia's first board, leading them to a seventh place finish, winning the silver medal on board one, and raising his rating to a career-high 2794.
In November 2010, he finished shared first at the category XXI Tal Memorial
. Following this tournament, he competed in the World Blitz Championship in Moscow, where he scored 24.5/38 to win the title ahead of Teimour Radjabov
and defending champion Magnus Carlsen
; Aronian clinched the title with a round to spare.
.
In March 2011 in Monaco
, he won the 20th and final Melody Amber
Blindfold/Rapid tournament for the third time, scoring a combined 15/5 points in 22 games.
Over his career, Aronian has a 5–1 record against Anand in classical chess. His high ranking and the fact that he was playing in the 2011 world championship Candidates tournament suggested that Aronian was a hot favorite for winning the title from Anand. However, Aronian suffered a setback by losing to Alexander Grischuk 2½–1½ in a quarter final Rapid play tiebreaker following a 2–2 split in their regulation classical matches.
In November 2011 Aronian played in the category 22 Tal Memorial in Moscow in a round robin with ten players. He won two games, against Ivanchuk and Svidler, and drew the rest. He tied for first with Magnus Carlsen, each scoring 8.5/11, but finished behind on tiebreak since he played four Black
games while Carlsen played five.
he won the silver medal for his individual performance on board one. He was a member of the gold-medal winning Armenian team at the World Team Chess Championship
in 2011.
, Vladimir Kramnik
, Viswanathan Anand
, Veselin Topalov
, and Magnus Carlsen
.
Standing on each top 100 FIDE list:
open at Mainz
; this qualified him for a match against Chess960 World Champion Peter Svidler
at Mainz the following year, a match which he lost 4½–3½. He won the Finet Chess960 open tournament again in 2005 which earned him a rematch with Svidler in 2006, and won the match this time 5–3 to become Chess960 World Champion.
In 2007 he successfully defended his title of Chess960 World Champion by beating Viswanathan Anand
. He lost the title in 2009 to Hikaru Nakamura
.
.
, defeats GM Ivan Sokolov
(2676) in 19 moves, using 10½ minutes on his clock:
Sokolov–Aronian, Turin 2006 Chess Olympiad
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 c5!? 7.dxc5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Bg3 Ne4 10.Bxb8!?
10...Qf6!
11.Bg3 Nxc3 12.a3 Bf5! 13.Qd2 Ba5 14.b4? Ne4 15.Qc1 Rc8!! 16.Ra2?! Rxc5 17.Qa1 (see diagram) Qc6!
18.Qe5+ Kd8 19.Qxh8+ Kd7 0–1
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
n chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
Grandmaster
International Grandmaster
The title Grandmaster is awarded to strong chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain....
and the reigning World Blitz Chess Champion. On the September 2011 FIDE list, he has an Elo
Elo rating system
The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in two-player games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-born American physics professor....
rating of 2807, making him number three in the world and Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
's number one. He won the Chess World Cup 2005
Chess World Cup 2005
The Chess World Cup 2005 served as a qualification tournament for the FIDE World Chess Championship 2007. It was held as a 128-player tournament, between 27 November and 17 December 2005, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia....
.
Aronian led the Armenian national team to the Gold medals in the 2006 (Turin)
37th Chess Olympiad
The 37th Chess Olympiad, comprising an open and women's tournament and the general assembly of the Fédération Internationale des Échecs , took place between 20 May and 6 June 2006, in Turin, Italy.-Open tournament:...
and 2008 (Dresden)
38th Chess Olympiad
The 38th Chess Olympiad, organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between 12–25 November 2008, in Dresden, Germany and was won by Armenia.The 2010 Olympiad is...
Chess Olympics and at the World Team Chess Championship
World Team Chess Championship
The World Team Chess Championship is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of 10 countries whose chess federations dominate their continent.-Men's team medals:-Women's team medals:-References:*...
in Ningbo
Ningbo
Ningbo is a seaport city of northeastern Zhejiang province, Eastern China. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, the municipality has a population of 7,605,700 inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 3,089,180 in the built up area made of 6 urban districts. It lies south of the Hangzhou Bay,...
2011. He won the FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010, qualifying him for the Candidates tournament for the World Chess Championship 2012. He was also the World Chess960
Chess960
Chess960 is a chess variant invented and advocated by former World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer, originally announced on June 19, 1996 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It employs the same board and pieces as standard chess, but the starting position of the pieces is randomized along the players' home...
Champion in 2006 and 2007, the World Rapid Chess Champion in 2009, and is the current World Blitz Chess Champion.
Aronian was declared the best sportsman of Armenia in 2005 and was awarded the title of "Honoured Master of Sport of the Republic of Armenia" in 2009.
Early years
Aronian was born on 6 October 1982 in Yerevan, Armenia, to Seda Sarkisovna, a mining engineerMining engineering
Mining engineering is an engineering discipline that involves the practice, the theory, the science, the technology, and application of extracting and processing minerals from a naturally occurring environment. Mining engineering also includes processing minerals for additional value.Mineral...
and Grigory Leontievich, a physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
. He was taught to play chess by his sister Lilit at the age of nine. His first coach was the Grandmaster Melikset Khachiyan
Melikset Khachiyan
Melikset Khachiyan is an Armenian-American Grandmaster of chess, originally from Armenia, who now resides in Los Angeles.Khachiyan began playing chess at the age of eight. Two years later he won the Baku Junior Championship. When he was twelve he became a Soviet candidate master. Among his own...
. An early sign of his ability came when he won the 1994 World Youth Chess Championship
World Youth Chess Championship
The World Youth Chess Championship is a chess competition for girls and boys under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18.The first predecessor of the youth championship was the Cadet Championship. It started off unofficially in 1974 in France for players under 18. The 1975 and 1976 editions were also...
(under-12) in Szeged
Szeged
' is the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county town of Csongrád county. The University of Szeged is one of the most distinguished universities in Hungary....
with 8/9, ahead of future luminaries Étienne Bacrot
Étienne Bacrot
Étienne Bacrot is a French chess grandmaster and currently ranked number one in France.He started playing at 4; by 10 young Bacrot was already winning junior competitions and in 1996, at 13 years of age, he won against Vasily Smyslov...
, Ruslan Ponomariov
Ruslan Ponomariov
Ruslan Olegovich Ponomariov is a Ukrainian chess player and former FIDE World Champion.-Early career:Ponomariov was born in Horlivka in Ukraine. In 1994 he placed third in the World Under-12 Championship at the age of ten. In 1996 he won the European Under-18 Championship at the age of just...
, Francisco Vallejo Pons
Francisco Vallejo Pons
Francisco Vallejo Pons is a chess Grandmaster from Spain. He was a chess prodigy, achieving the grandmaster title at the age of 16 years and 9 months, which makes him the 20th youngest player to ever become a grandmaster...
, and Alexander Grischuk
Alexander Grischuk
Alexander Igorevich Grischuk is a Russian chess grandmaster and Russian Champion in 2009.-Chess career:In the FIDE World Chess Championship 2000, Grischuk he made it to the semifinals, losing to Alexei Shirov....
.
Aronian holds a diploma from the Armenian State Institute of Physical Culture
Armenian State Institute of Physical Culture
Armenian State Institute of Physical Culture is a high-education institute, located in Yerevan, Armenia. It was founded in 1945 and prepares trainers, sports journalists, specialists in kinesiology and adaptive physical training...
.
2002
In 2002 he won the Armenian Chess ChampionshipArmenian Chess Championship
This is a list of all the winners of the Armenian Chess Championship. The first championship was played in 1934, when Armenia was a part of the Transcaucasian SFSR. Championships were held sporadically in the Armenian SSR until 1945, when they became contested every year; this has continued today...
. In the same year he became World Junior Champion
World Junior Chess Championship
The World Junior Chess Championship is an under-20 chess tournament organized by the World Chess Federation ....
, scoring 10/13 and finishing ahead of Surya Ganguly, Artyom Timofeev
Artyom Timofeev
Artyom Timofeev is a Russian chess Grandmaster. He won the European Youth Chess Championship for U18 in 2000. He tied for 1st-6th with Evgeniy Najer, Kaido Külaots, Zoltan Gyimesi, Sergey Grigoriants and Oleg Korneev at the Cappelle-la-Grande Open 2004...
, Luke McShane
Luke McShane
Luke James McShane is an English chess player. A former World Youth Champion and prodigious talent in chess, he has become one of England's leading players and a member of the Olympiad team. He has also been a trader in London's financial sector.- Early career :McShane won the World Under-10...
, Bu Xiangzhi
Bu Xiangzhi
Bu Xiangzhi is a Chinese chess grandmaster. In 1999, he became China's 10th Grandmaster at the age of 13 years, 10 months, 13 days, at the time the youngest in history. In April 2008, Bu and Ni Hua became the second and third Chinese players to pass the 2700 Elo rating line, after Wang Yue...
, Pendyala Harikrishna
Pendyala Harikrishna
Pentala Harikrishna is a chess player from Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India. Harikrishna became the youngest grandmaster from India in 2001. He is No. 3 in India after Viswanathan Anand & Krishnan Sasikiran, No. 9 in Asia & ranked 71st in the world as per FIDE rating as on November 2011.In November...
, and others.
2004
In 2004 he progressed to the third round of the 2004 FIDE World ChampionshipFIDE World Chess Championship 2004
The FIDE World Chess Championship, 2004 was held at the Almahary Hotel in Tripoli, Libya, from June 18 to July 13.It was won by Rustam Kasimdzhanov, who beat Michael Adams in the final by a score of 4½-3½...
before being knocked out by Pavel Smirnov
Pavel Smirnov
Pavel Smirnov is a Russian chess Grandmaster .In 2004 he reached the 4th round of the FIDE World Chess Championship, but lost to Teimour Radjabov. In the same year he came first in the Tigran Petrosian Memorial in Yerevan...
.
2005
Levon Aronian became part of the international elite in 2005, shooting up to fifth place in the world. In 2005 he was part of a five-way tie for first place at the Gibtele.com Masters in GibraltarGibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
with Zahar Efimenko
Zahar Efimenko
Zahar Efimenko is a Ukrainian chess player. He has been a grandmaster since 2002.-Chess career:In 1999 Efimenko won the U-14 World Youth Chess Championship in Oropesa del Mar, Spain. In the same year he was a member of the Ukrainian national youth team, which won the U-16 Chess Olympiad in Artek,...
, Kiril Georgiev
Kiril Georgiev
Kiril Dimitrov Georgiev is a Bulgarian chess master and three times the national champion. He should not be confused with fellow Bulgarian chess player Krum Georgiev....
, Alexei Shirov
Alexei Shirov
Alexei Dmitrievich Shirov is a Soviet-born Latvian chess grandmaster. He has consistently ranked among the world's top players since the early 1990s, and reached a ranking as high as number four in 1998...
, and Emil Sutovsky
Emil Sutovsky
Emil Sutovsky is an Israeli chess Grandmaster. He is one of the several top chess grandmasters who were born in Baku, Azerbaijan .-Successes:...
. He was the sole winner of the Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic , or Artsakh Republic is a de facto independent republic located in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia...
2005 International "A" Tournament. In the Russian Team Championship, he scored with an Elo performance rating of around 2850. In December he beat Ruslan Ponomariov
Ruslan Ponomariov
Ruslan Olegovich Ponomariov is a Ukrainian chess player and former FIDE World Champion.-Early career:Ponomariov was born in Horlivka in Ukraine. In 1994 he placed third in the World Under-12 Championship at the age of ten. In 1996 he won the European Under-18 Championship at the age of just...
of Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
in the final round to win the World Cup
Chess World Cup 2005
The Chess World Cup 2005 served as a qualification tournament for the FIDE World Chess Championship 2007. It was held as a 128-player tournament, between 27 November and 17 December 2005, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia....
in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia. After a draw
Draw (chess)
In chess, a draw is when a game ends in a tie. It is one of the possible outcomes of a game, along with a win for White and a win for Black . Usually, in tournaments a draw is worth a half point to each player, while a win is worth one point to the victor and none to the loser.For the most part,...
in two regular games, Aronian won both Rapid games to win the event and emerge undefeated in seven rounds.
2006
In March 2006 he took sole first place at the annual Linares chess tournamentLinares chess tournament
The Linares International Chess Tournament , is an annual chess tournament, usually played around the end of February, takes its name from the city of Linares in the Jaén province of Andalusia, Spain, in which it is held...
, half a point ahead of Teimour Radjabov
Teimour Radjabov
Radjabov's knight sacrifice, 21. ... Ngxe5, was praised by several strong players for its bravery, including English grandmaster Nigel Short. Said Short of the move, "Radjabov plays very imaginatively... he just won't give up, he is extremely tenacious and will always find a way to muddy the...
and FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov
Veselin Topalov
Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. He currently has the sixth highest rating in the world, and was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2010, losing the match 6½–5½....
. In 2006 he also tied for first in the Tal Memorial
Mikhail Tal Memorial
The Tal Memorial is a chess tournament played in Moscow each year since 2006, to honour the memory of the former World Champion Mikhail Tal who died in 1992....
. The April–July 2006 FIDE rating list ranked Aronian the number three player in the world.
2007
In January 2007 Aronian shared first place at the category 19 Corus chess tournamentCorus chess tournament
The Tata Steel Chess Tournament formerly called the Corus chess tournament takes place every year, usually in January, in a small town called Wijk aan Zee, part of the larger Beverwijk in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands...
in Wijk aan Zee along with Veselin Topalov
Veselin Topalov
Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. He currently has the sixth highest rating in the world, and was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2010, losing the match 6½–5½....
and Radjabov. In May 2007 he defeated World Champion
World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007...
4–2 in a Rapid chess match.
His 2005 World Cup victory qualified him for the Candidates Tournament of the World Chess Championship 2007
World Chess Championship 2007
The World Chess Championship 2007 was held in Mexico City, from September 12, 2007 to September 30, 2007 to decide the world champion in the board game chess. It was an eight-player, double round robin tournament....
, scheduled for May–June 2007. In this tournament he played GM Magnus Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess Grandmaster and chess prodigy who is currently the number-one ranked player in the world. In January 2010 he became the seventh player ranked number one in the world on the official FIDE rating list...
, and they tied 3–3 in the initial six games, then 2–2 in Rapid chess, and finally Aronian won 2–0 at Blitz chess
Blitz chess
Fast chess, also known as blitz chess, lightning chess, sudden death, speed chess, bullet chess and rapid chess, is a type of chess game in which each side is given less time to make their moves than under the normal tournament time controls of 60 to 180 minutes per player.-Overview:The different...
. In the finals, he defeated Shirov 3½–2½. This qualified him for the final stage of the championship, which was played in Mexico. There, he scored only six points out of 14, finishing seventh out of eight players.
2008
In January 2008 he won the prestigious Corus chess tournamentCorus chess tournament
The Tata Steel Chess Tournament formerly called the Corus chess tournament takes place every year, usually in January, in a small town called Wijk aan Zee, part of the larger Beverwijk in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands...
jointly with Magnus Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess Grandmaster and chess prodigy who is currently the number-one ranked player in the world. In January 2010 he became the seventh player ranked number one in the world on the official FIDE rating list...
, scoring 8/13. In March 2008 he won the Melody Amber
Melody Amber
The Amber chess tournament was an annual invitation-only event for some of the world's best players, from 1992 to 2011. Since the second edition, the event uniquely combined blindfold chess and speed chess, and has been held in Monte Carlo...
Blindfold/Rapid tournament held in Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
, France, 2½ points ahead of the other nearest competitors. Apart from his first place win in the overall tournament, he also took sole first place in the Rapid section of the tournament (winning by a margin of 1½ points) and shared first place in the Blindfold section with three other chess grandmasters: Kramnik, Morozevich, and Topalov. In June 2008, Aronian won the Karen Asrian Memorial Rapid chess tournament in Yerevan
Yerevan
Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...
. He finished 8½/14 ahead of Peter Leko
Péter Lékó
On the way to winning the prestigious Corus chess tournament in 2005, Lékó defeated Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand with the black pieces. The moves were:...
.
2009
In March 2009 he won the 18th Melody AmberMelody Amber
The Amber chess tournament was an annual invitation-only event for some of the world's best players, from 1992 to 2011. Since the second edition, the event uniquely combined blindfold chess and speed chess, and has been held in Monte Carlo...
Blindfold/Rapid tournament held in Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
, France for the second time, scoring a combined 14 points in 22 games. In the same year he took clear first place with four wins, one draw, and one loss in the second Bilbao
Bilbao
Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
Masters. On August 3, 2009 Aronian won the World Rapid Chess Championship. In November 2009 he competed in the Mikhail Tal Memorial
Mikhail Tal Memorial
The Tal Memorial is a chess tournament played in Moscow each year since 2006, to honour the memory of the former World Champion Mikhail Tal who died in 1992....
, at the time the strongest tournament in history (in terms of average Elo, 2763). He finished fourth with 5/9, and in the final round memorably demolished World Champion Viswanathan Anand
Viswanathan Anand
V. Anand or Anand Viswanathan, usually referred as Viswanathan Anand, is an Indian chess Grandmaster, the current World Chess Champion, and currently second highest rated player in the world....
with the black pieces in just 25 moves. In December 2009, he was awarded the title of "Honoured Master of Sport of the Republic of Armenia".
2010
Aronian played in the FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010, and won the Grand Prix with one tournament to go, qualifying him for the Candidates tournament for the World Chess Championship 2012.In August 2010, he attempted to defend the World Rapid Chess title, but lost to eventual champion American Gata Kamsky
Gata Kamsky
Gata Kamsky is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster, and the current World Rapid Chess Champion. He is also the current United States Chess Champion. As of September 2011, he is rated No. 1 in the United States and No...
. In September 2010, Aronian played in the preliminary stage of the Bilbao Grand Slam in Shanghai against Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007...
, Alexei Shirov
Alexei Shirov
Alexei Dmitrievich Shirov is a Soviet-born Latvian chess grandmaster. He has consistently ranked among the world's top players since the early 1990s, and reached a ranking as high as number four in 1998...
, and Wang Hao
Wang Hao (chess player)
Wang Hao is a Chinese chess Grandmaster. In November 2009, Wang Hao became the fourth ever Chinese player to cross the 2700 Elo rating mark. He is the reigning Chinese Chess Champion, with a ranking of No. 1 in China, No. 2 in Asia behind Viswanathan Anand and No. 19 in the world...
, but could not qualify for the final tournament after losing to Kramnik in an Armageddon game after they drew the tiebreaker match. His next tournament was the Chess Olympiad, where he was Armenia's first board, leading them to a seventh place finish, winning the silver medal on board one, and raising his rating to a career-high 2794.
In November 2010, he finished shared first at the category XXI Tal Memorial
Mikhail Tal Memorial
The Tal Memorial is a chess tournament played in Moscow each year since 2006, to honour the memory of the former World Champion Mikhail Tal who died in 1992....
. Following this tournament, he competed in the World Blitz Championship in Moscow, where he scored 24.5/38 to win the title ahead of Teimour Radjabov
Teimour Radjabov
Radjabov's knight sacrifice, 21. ... Ngxe5, was praised by several strong players for its bravery, including English grandmaster Nigel Short. Said Short of the move, "Radjabov plays very imaginatively... he just won't give up, he is extremely tenacious and will always find a way to muddy the...
and defending champion Magnus Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess Grandmaster and chess prodigy who is currently the number-one ranked player in the world. In January 2010 he became the seventh player ranked number one in the world on the official FIDE rating list...
; Aronian clinched the title with a round to spare.
2011
In January 2011, he tied for 3rd–4th with Magnus Carlsen in the 73rd Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan ZeeWijk aan Zee
Wijk aan Zee is a small town on the coast of the North Sea in the municipality of Beverwijk in the province of North Holland of the Netherlands. The prestigious Tata Steel chess tournament formerly Corus chess tournament and before that called Hoogovens tournament takes place there every year.Due...
.
In March 2011 in Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
, he won the 20th and final Melody Amber
Melody Amber
The Amber chess tournament was an annual invitation-only event for some of the world's best players, from 1992 to 2011. Since the second edition, the event uniquely combined blindfold chess and speed chess, and has been held in Monte Carlo...
Blindfold/Rapid tournament for the third time, scoring a combined 15/5 points in 22 games.
Over his career, Aronian has a 5–1 record against Anand in classical chess. His high ranking and the fact that he was playing in the 2011 world championship Candidates tournament suggested that Aronian was a hot favorite for winning the title from Anand. However, Aronian suffered a setback by losing to Alexander Grischuk 2½–1½ in a quarter final Rapid play tiebreaker following a 2–2 split in their regulation classical matches.
In November 2011 Aronian played in the category 22 Tal Memorial in Moscow in a round robin with ten players. He won two games, against Ivanchuk and Svidler, and drew the rest. He tied for first with Magnus Carlsen, each scoring 8.5/11, but finished behind on tiebreak since he played four Black
White and Black in chess
In chess, the player who moves first is referred to as "White" and the player who moves second is referred to as "Black". Similarly, the pieces that each conducts are called, respectively, "the white pieces" and "the black pieces". The pieces are often not literally white and black, but some...
games while Carlsen played five.
Team competitions
Aronian played for Armenia in the Chess Olympiads of 1996, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010. He took team bronze medal in 2004 and team gold medal in 2006 and 2008. In the 2010 Chess Olympiad39th Chess Olympiad
The 39th Chess Olympiad, organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place in 2010 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, on to...
he won the silver medal for his individual performance on board one. He was a member of the gold-medal winning Armenian team at the World Team Chess Championship
World Team Chess Championship
The World Team Chess Championship is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of 10 countries whose chess federations dominate their continent.-Men's team medals:-Women's team medals:-References:*...
in 2011.
Elo rating
Aronian broke the 2800 rating barrier in the November 2010 FIDE world ranking with a rating of 2801. He is only the sixth player to cross the 2800 rating mark, joining Garry KasparovGarry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....
, Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007...
, Viswanathan Anand
Viswanathan Anand
V. Anand or Anand Viswanathan, usually referred as Viswanathan Anand, is an Indian chess Grandmaster, the current World Chess Champion, and currently second highest rated player in the world....
, Veselin Topalov
Veselin Topalov
Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. He currently has the sixth highest rating in the world, and was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2010, losing the match 6½–5½....
, and Magnus Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess Grandmaster and chess prodigy who is currently the number-one ranked player in the world. In January 2010 he became the seventh player ranked number one in the world on the official FIDE rating list...
.
Standing on each top 100 FIDE list:
| Rating list | Rating | World ranking |
|---|---|---|
| January 2003 | 2610 | 85 |
| April 2003 | 2606 | 91 |
| July 2003 | 2649 | 44 |
| October 2003 | 2649 | 47 |
| January 2004 | 2648 | 45 |
| April 2004 | 2645 | 51 |
| July 2004 | 2671 | 32 |
| October 2004 | 2675 | 29 |
| January 2005 | 2684 | 21 |
| April 2005 | 2693 | 21 |
| July 2005 | 2724 | 10 |
| October 2005 | 2724 | 10 |
| January 2006 | 2752 | 5 |
| April 2006 | 2756 | 3 |
| July 2006 | 2761 | 3 |
| October 2006 | 2741 | 7 |
| January 2007 | 2744 | 7 |
| April 2007 | 2759 | 5 |
| July 2007 | 2750 | 8 |
| October 2007 | 2741 | 9 |
| January 2008 | 2739 | 10 |
| April 2008 | 2763 | 6 |
| July 2008 | 2737 | 12 |
| October 2008 | 2757 | 7 |
| January 2009 | 2750 | 11 |
| April 2009 | 2754 | 6 |
| July 2009 | 2768 | 4 |
| September 2009 | 2773 | 3 |
| November 2009 | 2786 | 4 |
| January 2010 | 2781 | 5 |
| March 2010 | 2782 | 5 |
| May 2010 | 2783 | 5 |
| July 2010 | 2783 | 5 |
| September 2010 | 2783 | 4 |
| November 2010 | 2801 | 3 |
| January 2011 | 2805 | 3 |
| March 2011 | 2808 | 3 |
| May 2011 | 2808 | 3 |
| July 2011 | 2805 | 3 |
| September 2011 | 2807 | 3 |
| November 2011 | 2802 | 3 |
- bold, new peak rating
Chess960
In 2003 Aronian won the Finet Chess960Chess960
Chess960 is a chess variant invented and advocated by former World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer, originally announced on June 19, 1996 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It employs the same board and pieces as standard chess, but the starting position of the pieces is randomized along the players' home...
open at Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
; this qualified him for a match against Chess960 World Champion Peter Svidler
Peter Svidler
Peter Veniaminovich Svidler is a Russian chess grandmaster.He is six-time Russian champion ....
at Mainz the following year, a match which he lost 4½–3½. He won the Finet Chess960 open tournament again in 2005 which earned him a rematch with Svidler in 2006, and won the match this time 5–3 to become Chess960 World Champion.
In 2007 he successfully defended his title of Chess960 World Champion by beating Viswanathan Anand
Viswanathan Anand
V. Anand or Anand Viswanathan, usually referred as Viswanathan Anand, is an Indian chess Grandmaster, the current World Chess Champion, and currently second highest rated player in the world....
. He lost the title in 2009 to Hikaru Nakamura
Hikaru Nakamura
Hikaru Nakamura is an American chess Grandmaster . He has been ranked among the top six players in the world by FIDE....
.
Personal life
As of the end of 2009, his girlfriend is Australian Woman International Master Arianne CaoiliArianne Caoili
Arianne Caoili is a Philippine born Australian chess player who achieved the FIDE Woman International Master title.-Chess:...
.
Notable games
Aronian, as BlackWhite and Black in chess
In chess, the player who moves first is referred to as "White" and the player who moves second is referred to as "Black". Similarly, the pieces that each conducts are called, respectively, "the white pieces" and "the black pieces". The pieces are often not literally white and black, but some...
, defeats GM Ivan Sokolov
Ivan Sokolov
Ivan Sokolov is a chess grandmaster born in Jajce, SFR Yugoslavia, who currently resides in the Netherlands. Sokolov won the 1988 Yugoslav Championship....
(2676) in 19 moves, using 10½ minutes on his clock:
Sokolov–Aronian, Turin 2006 Chess Olympiad
37th Chess Olympiad
The 37th Chess Olympiad, comprising an open and women's tournament and the general assembly of the Fédération Internationale des Échecs , took place between 20 May and 6 June 2006, in Turin, Italy.-Open tournament:...
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 c5!? 7.dxc5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Bg3 Ne4 10.Bxb8!?
- 10.e3; 10.Be5
10...Qf6!
- 10...Rxb8?? 11.Qa4+ +−
11.Bg3 Nxc3 12.a3 Bf5! 13.Qd2 Ba5 14.b4? Ne4 15.Qc1 Rc8!! 16.Ra2?! Rxc5 17.Qa1 (see diagram) Qc6!
- The threat of back-rank mate is crushing.
18.Qe5+ Kd8 19.Qxh8+ Kd7 0–1
- If 20.e3, 20...Rc1+ 21.Ke2 Bg4+! and 22...Qc4#. Analysis by A. J. Goldsby.