How the “David Beckham of chess” became an Armenian national hero: CNN refers to Levon Aronian

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 1, ARMENPRESS. When Levon Aronian walks down the street in his street in his native Armenia he’s met by cheering crowds; restaurants insist he eats for free; new parents name their babies after him.

Aronian isn’t an actor, activist, or astronaut. He’s a chess player –the fourth best in the world, to be precise. And in this tiny, ex-Soviet, chess-obsessed country, that means he’s also a national hero, prominent CNN began an article on Levon Aronian in such way.

“The first time my fiancé arrived in Armenia we stopped at one petrol station and they said, ‘OK, we’re not going to charge you,'” says the 33-year-old dubbed “The David Beckham of Armenia” by the foreign press.

“So for her this is pretty shocking — but that happens all the time,” CNN quoted Levon Aronian’s speech, “Armenpress” reports.

The media reports that the red carpet treatment of players isn’t so far-fetched in a country where chess is compulsory in all schools. Here, even the nation’s President Serzh Sargsyan is also President of the Armenia Chess Federation.

“For a nation of just three million, Armenia has one of the highest numbers of grandmasters per capita in the world. Of the past five Chess Olympiads, the national team has won three times — led by none other than idol Aronian,” CNN reports.

According to CNN, Armenia’s modern-day love affair with chess owes a lot to one man — 1960s world champion Tigran Petrosian.

“The moment Petrosian beat Soviet Mikhail Botvinnik to become 1963 World Chess Champion (a title he held until 1969), has been likened JFK’s assassination in America — everyone in Armenia remembers where they were at the time. For a country with such a tumultuous history — including one of the most horrific massacres of the 20th century — chess has now also become an important source of Armenian national pride”, the media reports.

“We’re not just a nation of people who struggle and fight. We’re also a nation of people who can come back to the days of our glory when we were a big country, a country which set new rules. When you travel to Armenia you see all those monasteries, all those universities that are 1,500 years old and you always feel ‘this is what we are.’ We have been a nation that had a lot of intellectual capability. So I think what drove people to chess, is to bring back the feeling that we were once a scientific nation, Aronian concluded.

Aronian won theChess World Cup 2005. He led the Armenian national team to the Gold medals in the2006 (Turin),2008 (Dresden) and2012 (Istanbul)Chess Olympicsand at theWorld Team Chess ChampionshipinNingbo2011. He won theFIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010, qualifying him for the Candidates tournament for theWorld Chess Championship 2012, where he was knocked out in the first round. He was also WorldChess960Champion in 2006 and 2007,World Rapid Chess Championin 2009, andWorld Blitz Chess Championin 2010.

Aronian holds a diploma from theArmenian State Institute of Physical Culture.

Aronian played for Armenia in theChess Olympiadsof 1996, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010.He took team bronze medal in 2004 and team gold medal in 2006, 2008 and 2012. In the2010 Chess Olympiadhe won the silver medal for his individual performance on board one.He was a member of the gold-medal winning Armenian team at theWorld Team Chess Championshipin 2011.