Levon Aronian

Levon Aronian
Aronian at the 2011 European Team Chess Championships in Athens
Full name	Levon Grigori Aronian
Country	Armenia
Born	(1982-10-06) 6 October 1982 (age 34) Yerevan, Armenian SSR, Soviet Union
Title	Grandmaster
FIDE rating	2795 (September 2016)
Peak rating	2830 (March 2014)
Ranking	No. 5 (August 2016)
Peak ranking	No. 2 (January 2012)

Levon Aronian

Medal record
Representing  Armenia
Chess Olympiad
	Turin 2006	Open
	Dresden 2008	Open
	Istanbul 2012	Open
	Calvià 2004	Open

Levon Grigori Aronian (Armenian: Լևոն Գրիգորի Արոնյան; born 6 October 1982) is an Armenian chess Grandmaster. On the March 2014 FIDE rating list, he was ranked number two in the world and had an Elo rating of 2830, making him the fourth highest rated player in history.

Aronian won the Chess World Cup 2005. He led the Armenian national team to the Gold medals in the 2006 (Turin), 2008 (Dresden) and 2012 (Istanbul) 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, where he was knocked out in the first round. He was also World Chess960 Champion in 2006 and 2007, World Rapid Chess Champion in 2009, and World Blitz Chess Champion in 2010. In 2015, he won the 3rd Annual Sinquefield Cup.

Aronian has been the leading Armenian chess player since the early 2000s. His popularity in Armenia has led to him being called a celebrity, and a hero. He was named the best sportsman of Armenia in 2005 and was awarded the title of Honoured Master of Sport of the Republic of Armenia in 2009.

Aronian was born on 6 October 1982 in Yerevan, Armenia (then part of the Soviet Union), to Seda Aronova-Avagyan, an Armenian mining engineer, and Grigory Leontievich Aronov, a Jewish physicist. Talking about his background, Aronian stated in an interview, "I feel much more Armenian than Jewish, although there are sides to me which are more Jewish culturally, involving the arts and music."