Armenian Grand Master - Levon Aronian

Levon Aronian

Levon Aronian is a world famous Chess Grandmaster from Armenia and is currently ranked number two in the FIDE World Chess rankings and is the third highest rated player in the history of the sport, holding an ELO rating of 2826.

Youth Champion
Born In Yeravan, Armenia, October 6th 1982, he learnt to play chess at the age of nine and was taught by his sister. However, he soon developed a talent for the game and his first coach was the renowned Grandmaster Melikset Khachiyan, who took Aronian to the 1994 World Youth Chess Championship where he dominated the Under 12 category, 8/9 and won the competition. The significance of this win cannot be overlooked as Aronian defeated future stars of the game including Ruslan Ponomariov, Francisco Vallejo Pons and Étienne Bacrot.

World Cup 
Aronian went on to claim many victories in his early career and significantly he was crowned the winner of the Chess World Cup in 2005, and was acknowledged by his peers as the finest sportsman in Armenia in the same year. By winning the premier international Chess competition at the tender age of only 23 he was rapidly elevated to the Chess elite shooting up the FIDE ranking to be fifth in the world.

International Success
However, his success was not limited to the individual game and he led the Armenian national squad to Gold Medals in the 2006 and 2008 Chess Olympiad. In honour of his achievements in Chess he was presented with the title of "Honoured Master of Sport of the Republic of Armenia" in late 2009, before leading the national team to success at the World Team Chess Championships in 2011. A third team victory quickly followed when Aronian led the Armenian national chess team to success at the 2102 Chess Olympiad, held in Istanbul.

National Hero
Levon Aronian’s successes, both as an individual and a team chess player, have elevated Armenian Chess to new heights, with international recognition. Armenian schools have made Chess a compulsory part of the curriculum to ensure a chess education for all pupils. Nevertheless, with more grandmasters per capita Armenia is considered to be one of the strongest chess nations in the world and is currently sixth in the world rankings.