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.
References change
- ↑ 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.