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YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian chess team will spare no effort to become world champion again. The leader of the Armenian men’s chess team Levon Aronian, who currently occupies the second position in the FIDE ranking list, stated this in a conversation with “Armenpress”. In addition Aronian highlighted that the team must show better performance at the European championship. “We were very close to the victory at the previous European championship. This time we’ll do our best not to miss in the final tour,” Levon Aronian noted.
Among other things Levon Aronian touched upon the short break between the European and World Championships and emphasized: “I don’t think that we’ll feel tired after the European Championship, as we all are fond of playing. Many of us did not play for a long time and there is that flame now.”
Summing up, Levon Aronian underscored: “I don’t think that any of the players will mind to see fresh “vigour” in the team. It’s always good.”
Aronyan was born on 6 October 1982 in Yerevan, Armenia. An early sign of his ability came when he won the 1994 World Youth Chess Championship (under-12) in Szeged with 8/9, ahead of future luminaries Étienne Bacrot, Ruslan Ponomariov, Francisco Vallejo Pons, and Alexander Grischuk. Aronyan was declared the best sportsman of Armenia in 2005 and was awarded the title of "Honored Master of Sport of the Republic of Armenia" in 2009.
Aronyan 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.
Aronyan holds a diploma from the Armenian State Institute of Physical Culture.
Aronyan played for Armenia in the Chess Olympiads of 1996, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010. He took team bronze medal in 2004 and team gold medal in 2006, 2008 and 2012. In the 2010 Chess Olympiad he won the silver medal for his individual performance on board one. He was a member of the gold-medal winning Armenian team at the World Team Chess Championship in 2011.