Final Chess Masters Bilbao 2008

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LEVON ARONIAN (ELO 2751)
Yerevan (Armenia), 06-10-1982

An easy-going winner

He could be the boy from the shop around the corner, jet he is a great chess luminary: he is only 25 years old but has already won the World Cup and the Linares and Wijk aan Zee (twice) tournaments. That naturalness, his universal style and belonging to a country where chess is the national passion, as well as a balanced nervous system configure the 25 year-old Armenian Levon Aronian as a very solid value.

“I’m not prepared to compete with the big ones. The only advantage I have over those beasts is my total ignorance and fresh thinking”, Aronian said at Christmas 2005, a few days after having won the World Cup in Siberia and some days just before his debut in the Wijk aan Zee Corus Tournament (Holland), where he shared the 7th place of 14 participantespants. Just a month later he triumphed in Linares, the chess Wimbledon, so surprisingly as convincingly.

This wasn’t really an objective surprise and had a lot to do with Aronian’s natural modesty. Whoever had followed his career ever since his childhood would have already noticed his enormous talent, demonstrated when he won the 1994 World Under 12 Championship in Szeged (Hungary), ahead of future luminaries such as Bacrot (France), Ponomáriov (Ukraine), Grischuk (Russia) y Vallejo (Spain) and confirmed in 1996 with the silver medal in the World Under 14 Championship in Cala Galdana (Menorca) sharing podium with also Armenian Sarguissián and Spanish Vallejo.

Aronian, second son of a couple of scientists, learnt to play chess at the age of 5 with his sister; his mother worked as an engineer specialised in explosions and demolitions; his father, a Byelorussian physicist, worked as a researcher specialised in laser technology. Both of them sacrificed their professional prestige to emigrate to Berlin with only one objective that Levon, who was 18 years old at the time, could develop all his talent for chess, joining a team in the Bundesleague and being closer to the important European tournaments.

They soon saw their decision had been right. World Chess Junior Champion in 2002, Aronian continued making progress –not attracting much attention though – as a chess player and as a person. He speaks Armenian, Russian, English and a bit of German and he likes having a try with Spanish, making jokes with the rude words. Prone to the high risk in his games, both organisers and followers are fond of Aronian and he could not miss the Bilbao Final Masters.

LEVON ARONIAN’S RECORD

Was born on 06-10-82
1994: World Chess Champion U-12
1996: World Chess Runner-up U-14
2002: World Chess Champion U-20
2005: World Cup Winner
2006: Gold Medal with Armenia in the Chess Olympiad in Turin (Italy)