Hall of Fame #33: Levon Aronian (The Armenian Lion)
If chess is art, his creativity creates a stunning canvas. If chess is science, his original ideas and intuitive play question many hypotheses. And if chess is a sport, his fighting spirit and passion over the board brings the adrenaline. – IM Tania Sachdev [source: The Inspirational Life of Levon Aronian]
[A note for my regular readers: The intro has not changed (except for the new image directly below with its accompanying caption). Feel free to jump to the Table of Contents or even to the Biography.]
[A note for my new readers: I believe it is useful to read the full introduction your first time. Cheers!]
This blog is a celebration that leverages an outstanding concept of GMs Nielsen and Gustafsson, but offers my unique takes and different material. The two GMs produced videos and multiple lessons regarding their top 50 chess players of all time. Although I freely accept their rankings and provide a link (below) to their work, my focus is different.
How does my work differ? Well, first off, I'm not a titled player. Second, I wrote brief biographies for each player and offer limited discussion and pictures of some of their works (if they wrote). Third, if they were eminently quotable, I'll throw in a few of those! I may have found occasion to add quotes from other famous (or even unknown) chess names regarding the Hall of Famer. Fourth, I'll toss in the occasional caricature😏.
Fifth, and most difficult, I will include at least two games analyzed by the individual, if such games exist. After all, the greatest of the great should be able to explain what they were thinking during a game, shouldn't they? (Spoiler alert: perhaps, except when there is no evidence that they ever had analyses published. Also, many of them analyzed games, but the ones available to me only offer some alternative lines, with symbolic indications but no textual explanations.)
Plus, I attempt to provide links to other relevant materials regarding these grandmasters of the game.
We've reached #33! One of my favorite players who is now in the middle-aged generation. (Time flies, whether playing bullet, taking a time test, watching youngsters age, or the number of years spent working...the only moments that last forever are the last few minutes that end a long day of classes, the last days before school summer break, or time spent on a riverbank fishing.)
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33: Levon Aronian | Chess Lessons The official chess.com site. Less interesting than this, imo.😉
Levon Grigori Aronian (Armenian: Լևոն Գրիգորի Արոնյան, romanized: Levon Grigori Aronyan; born 6 October 1982) is an Armenian-American GM. He is a former world rapid and blitz champion and a two-time Chess960 World CC (2006 and 2007). It is no surprise he has done so well when considering he won the 1994 World Youth CC (U-12) ahead of future superstars Bacrot, Ponomariov, Vallejo Pons, and Grischuk. His peak rating was 2830 in March 2014, while his peak world ranking was #2 beginning in January 2012…placing him behind you-know-who both times. He was rated 2721 standard as of December 2025, with a blitz rating of 2749 entering 2026, and a rapid rating of 2731.
Levon represented Armenia in six Olympiads. The team earned one bronze and three golds during that run. Meanwhile, Levon won an individual silver and individual gold on board one over those events. Armenia also won the World Team CC in 2011 with Aronian picking up a silver medal on board one, then earning gold on board one in the event in the next World Team CC. After switching federations, he earned a silver medal on board four for the US in the 2024 Olympiad.
Levon has two accounts on chess.com. The older account is GM @LevonAronian, opened in 2016. His current blitz rating is 3179 while he strolls in at 3057 for bullet. In comparison, his rapid rating is a "paltry" 2806. Most of his games are blitz, though I found a series of rapid games in July 2025. His other account, GM@ArmenianLion, has been inactive since 5 April 2021. That second account was opened in July 2020, a few months after his first wife died from injuries in a tragic car accident. The account went inactive several months before his move to the US in September 2021. He did have a similar bullet rating on that account, 3090.
Well, this all begs the question of how he performed against his fellow Top Tenners (yes, I meant "tenners" and not "tenors", thank you very much spell check) and competitors. Shock bulletin! Like most Top Ten players in any era, his overall record runs right around the 50% mark. Delete the GOAT from the crowded deck below and Levon actually ends up with a positive record...probably a lot of elite super-GMs active in the 2010 - 2030 era will be saying that.
These W-L-D counts are taken from the ChessBase DB and include all time controls. I was not inclined to break things down to that granular a level of detail, so I lumped them all together.
Levon does have a book out on chessable, Levon Aronian’s Beauty of Chess | Chessable, released in August of 2022. He also has a short version that is available free to PRO members. So, I've got the free version, but I haven't gone through it yet (as of 20 Feb 2026 when I first snagged it.) You'd think there'd be a sequel by now, but I didn't choose to check the chessable forums to see if there are indications of a Volume 2.
There's an introductory video (11m 29s) at the link above in which he talks about his past, thoughts of quitting, mistakes he's made along the way, and why he wrote the book. The book covers his career from 1995 - 2013. He's his usual charming, amusing, and insightful self, and watching the video is free!
Here's a snippet of what the chessable.com description had to say about his book.
Levon Aronian’s Beauty Of Chess covers Aronian’s career from 1995 to 2013, when he rose from a FIDE Master to a strong 2615-grandmaster. The games Aronian played during these years shaped him as a player. And by putting yourself in his shoes — solving the same “out of the box” problems he had to grapple with — you too can cultivate that over-the-board creativity that wins games brilliantly.
There is also a biography published in 2024 that promises:
- Thrilling accounts of Aronian's most memorable games and tournaments
- Insights into the mind of a chess prodigy
- The struggles and triumphs that shaped his career
- Aronian's impact on Armenian chess and culture
- Valuable lessons for both chess enthusiasts and those seeking inspiration in their own life
Not having been aware of this book, I can offer no clues as to its value. Nice cover though!!
Levon Aronian can be indelibly quick with a quip or an anecdote during interviews. Unfortunately for all of us, such glib comments rarely make it into the echosystem where words take on a life of their own. Plus, I'm too lazy/busy to listen to a series of interviews to pull out the fun stuff. So, we'll have to go with what I found easily.
As a chess player one has to be able to control one’s feelings, one has to be as cold as a machine. Chess Quotes - Psychology
I associate Tigran Petrosian with Warne Marsh [a jazz tenor saxophonist]. A unique style of play which, it seemed, was too calm and dull, while in reality it was deep and cunning. — Levon Aronian [Kevin: Levon showed his depth with that very apt cross-cultural reference.]
As a talented player I always had a great talent for being lazy as well. If it wasn’t for my family (and particularly my mother) and my friends, who did the majority of the work for me, then it’s unlikely I’d have been able to achieve success. [Crestbook interview with Levon Aronian, part 1]
The fact that I was late to cross the 2700-barrier can be explained by the fact that living in Armenia I didn’t have the necessary opportunities for progress, as back then flights to Europe were very expensive, and it was rare at the end of the millennium for young chess players to receive help (in the mid-90s it was incomparably better when it came to sponsorship). If I’d grown up just now then of course I wouldn’t have had such problems, and in fact it might have been the opposite, as it would make sense to move to Armenia in order to develop as a chess player. But after moving to Germany at the end of 2001 I got the opportunity to play in European tournaments, and as a result I was finally able to get down to playing and discovering my potential. Ibid
Is 'tricky play' my style? If that was true, then I don’t think I’d ever have had the opportunity to tell people about it. The majority of players at the top level use the tactical motifs you call tricks in their play, but I’m sure that in the overwhelming percentage of cases it isn’t done to the detriment of their position. Ibid
If you’re going to use such ideas <tricks> when playing against an experienced player then I recommend you wear a colourful outfit and learn to juggle, so as to distract your opponent from your moves. (In response to a question of whether lower-rated players should rely on cheap tricks.) Ibid
Here is what others had to say about Aronian.
...the most striking player around, with the highest creative level, in terms both of openings and original ideas in the middlegame. Boris Gelfand, WhyChess, 20 October 2013
He's always looking for various little tricks to solve technical tasks. Viswanathan Anand, Chess in translation. 11 May 2012
Levon Aronian is the most successful player with an ultra-aggressive style. He achieves this result thanks to his rare intuition in the sharpest positions. Alexei Shirov, Crestbook.com, 1 November 2010
Sergei Karjakin compared Levon with Lionel Messi. Chess-News.ru, 21 November 2012
...the David Beckham of chess. CNN, Sheena McKenzie, 1 February 2016
Though he opens with 1. d4, he treats these positions like an e4-player. Viswanathan Anand, Chessbase News, 3 May 2009
The kind of overly deep analysis that often suits my desires. It's not useful for all. Not even for me at times.
Given these are fifty of the greatest players of all time, how were they as annotators? Well, for those who wrote books we could truly explore that question in depth. But to keep the playing field even, I had been including only games taken from a DB. Why that limitation? Well, I didn't want to burden myself with transcribing comments from a book into a pgn file. Or increase my debt burden by buying books of those who did not yet offer free access to books released to the public domain. Besides, far easier and faster to look for annotated games in an online database. Eventually, I changed my position on that for the reasons given in Hall of Fame #41: Jan Timman (The Best of the West!). There was nothing useful in the DBs I explored. So, books were now in. Then Hall of Fame #35: Vasyl Ivanchuk (Chuckie) forced me to revisit my thinking yet again! No DB analyses, no obscure sites providing analysis, no books available to me. Sigh. Roll the tape and go for an online video review of the action!!
Fortunately for my keyboard and my sanity, I found several well-annotated games by Levon.
Aronian, Levon (2581) - McShane, Luke (2546) Wch U20 41st, 12.12.2002
A great piece of analysis that discusses the standings when the game was played (Levon was a half point behind). He mentions that they had played a similar rare opening line in prior internet blitz games, offers his assessment of the position and possible alternatives during the game, and delineates some things he'd missed that came up during their post-game analysis. Humorously, Aronian several times mentions that he 'sets a trap', despite his quotes that such 'tricks' are not part and parcel of the top competitors. Of course, they weren't silly traps, it just so happened that a solid move could also include a trap!
Before this round I was half a point behind my opponent who started the tournament very well and I wanted to get a safe, slight advantage and try to win without taking big risks .
Analysis that's a joy to view, imo.
Aronian, Levon (2809) - Kramnik, Vladimir (2801) Alekhine Memorial, 22.04.2013
Not every day we get to see one of those rarities, a game between players rated over 2800, primarily because the only perennial 2800+ player over the past decade plus is Magnus, and Garry K before him. The annotations mention something that rarely receives enough attention: the amount of time spent on a single move. Time management is so often a critical aspect, one that can result in outcomes shifting when time trouble cancels out a game's worth of good work. Lots of good explanation in this one, and it's interesting how Black's pawn structure decision on move twenty placed Kramnik in an extremely difficult defensive position.
This game was played in the second round. In the first, I lost a textbook game to Ding Liren and was extremely determined to bounce back.
Hilarious finish: a spite check combined with resignation.
Care for a journey down memory lane? Just pick your path!The whole purpose of this section is to address some obvious questions that might pop into your head. How come Kevin didn't talk about this? Or that? Not to mention the other thing! Well, just call me lazy! Or you could appreciate the fact I'm limiting the word count that is imposed on you😏.
Nonetheless, in the series I'll be using this little section to provide links to more fulsome discussions that revolve around some well-known and lesser-known facets of the featured chess giant. That will range from videos to links to other chess.com blogs, usually by Top Bloggers. Enjoy or skip, it's your call, as always.
- GMAvetik_ChessMood 10 Insights from Levon Aronian
- GM @GMHess Candidate Profile: Levon Aronian Discussion of 2014 - 2016 and his chances entering the Candidates, with games.
- IM @DanielRensch Official Statement Regarding Nepomniachtchi vs Aronian Match 2017 Speed CC connection issues.
- nM @SamCopeland Top 10 Games Of The 2010s: #9 Magnus Carlsen's Most Spectacular Defeat–Aronian vs Carlsen 2017
- nM @SamCopeland Top 10 Games Of The 2000s: #1 Topalov Sacs 2 Exchanges, Overruns Aronian–Topalov vs Aronian 2006
- nM@SamCopeland Top 10 Games Of The 2010s: #4 Vladimir Kramnik's No Castling Chess Attack–Aronian vs Kramnik 2018
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nM @SamCopeland Top 10 Games Of The 2010s: #1 Anand's Immortal Chess Game–Aronian vs Anand 2013
- Top Blogger @jack_connelly The Inspirational Life of Levon Aronian
- @PeterDoggers Levon Aronian To Play For United States Tensions with the new Armenian government led Lev to relocate.
- Levon Aronian - Wikipedia
- GM Levon Aronian (LevonAronian) - Chess Profile - Chess.com
- Levon Aronian | Top Chess Players - Chess.com
- The Best Chess Games of Levon Aronian - Chess.com
That's it for the 18th installment of my own take on chess.com's 50 greatest players of all time. Hope you enjoyed the blog. The good GMs below have a full selection of videos and puzzles dedicated to each of the fifty.
Cheers!
If you enjoy reading "greatest of" lists then you might also enjoy chess.com's Every Chess 'Player Of The Decade' (From Morphy To Magnus).
Sources for this information included chess.com, wikipedia.com, ChessBase, FIDE, individuals' websites, YouTube.com, news articles, books, and other sources. Plus, my faulty memories. I mixed, matched, cut, and pasted so much that separation is implausible, and I apologize for misattributions. Particularly with quotes which are found in a thousand repositories, not to mention book covers, t-shirts, and the rantings of chess coaches of whom I've had more than a few thanks to Chess University and @AttilaTurzo (my primary instructor and co-author of three books, for different chess strengths, we are writing on how to analyze during a game and after.)
HoF #49: Karjakin–"The Minister of Defense"
HoF #48: Portisch–"The Hungarian Botvinnik"
HoF #47: Polugaevsky–"The Great Poluga"
HoF #46: Kamsky–"London's King"
HoF #44: Leko–"The Cement Meister"
HoF #43: Winawer (The French King)
HoF #42: Najdorf–"Happy-Go-Lucky"
HoF #41: Jan Timman (The Best of the West!)
HoF #40: Mikhail Chigorin (Father of the Russian School of Chess)
HoF #39: Boris Gelfand (The Piece Twirler)
HoF #38: Efim Geller (The Giant Killer)
Hall of Fame #37: Harry Pillsbury
HoF #36: Carl Schlechter (The Viennese Drawing Master)
