levon aronian

Levon Aronian is an Armenian (soon to be U.S.) super grandmaster who has long been among the world’s best players. He first entered the top 20 in 2005 and still hasn’t lost that distinction. Most of those 15 years or so have been spent in the top 10.

Aronian has been a model for steady, elite-level chess play in recent years, but don’t let his consistency overshadow what he has accomplished so far. In the first half of the 2010s—November 2010 to September 2014—he was in the top three. In March 2014, his rating peaked at 2830. That made Aronian the fourth-highest rated player in history—only Magnus Carlsen, Garry Kasparov and Fabiano Caruana have achieved higher ratings.

Aronian’s resume also includes world championships in Fischer random chess, blitz and rapid; multiple gold team medals for the Armenian national team; an individual Armenian national title; two Chess World Cup victories and much more. The Armenian hero is a few years away from turning 40, which means that he could add quite a bit more to a legacy that has enriched the game.