CHENNAI: Back when Levon Aronian was the king — he prefers lion — of the chessboard for Armenia, he was being treated like a rockstar in his native country. Serzh Sargsyan, then the Armenian President, was a friend of Aronian's so he used to fly victorious Olympiad teams back in presidential jets. The Armenian team had made winning at the Olympiad a hobby, with Aronian leading them to victories in three editions in 2006, 2008 and 2012 (the country is one of the global leaders in terms of GMs per capita).
Even otherwise, Sargsyan, a chess aficionado who doubled up as the head of the chess federation, used to splurge when it came to the board game. It was on the school syllabus, innovation was the buzzword and super computers were a tool available to the likes of Aronian so that they could train and get better. In fact, months before Aronian had led the side to gold in the Open section in 2012, a landmark reform held that chess was going to be a compulsory subject in school, like mathematics and science.
In 2018, Sargsyan lost power. With it, the tap was abruptly turned off. The funding earmarked for chess stopped and it soon ground to a halt. Aronian patiently waited to see if things would improve. If anything, things came to a head. So, he switched his allegiance to the US (transfers like these are common in the world of elite chess).
But, it's fair to say that the 41-year-old (his bio on X still reads "Armenian lion") still deeply cares about his homeland. Minutes after the team had clinched an unexpected silver at the last Olympiad in Mahabalipuram, he showed it. "Winning silver and coming so close to gold is incredible and makes me proud," he had posted on the same website. "I hope such a sensational performance will get a deserved recognition."
It's two-and-a-half years removed since Aronian took his decision to move to the West. When you ask why he felt he had to make the move, it's very clear. "It was hard for me when I took that decision," Aronian, who's in the city for the Chennai Grand Masters tournament, told this daily. "But I thought I needed to do it for self respect." Because of the indifference of the Armenian state to chess, he had two options in front of him. Turn his back on chess or take his chess where it was going to be appreciated. The choice, then, was pretty simple. While a few of the Armenians will never make peace with what he did (he's one of Armenia's greatest ever sportspersons), there are a lot of people who have come to terms with it. "A majority of them have understood why I had to move," he said.
Aronian, once rated at 2830 (fourth highest in the game's history), showed why chess was his one true calling. "It's very popular in Armenia," he said. "My mother's family always played chess and I fell in love with the complexities. When I was little, I was playing checkers and beating everybody. Then, I started playing chess. In my parents circle, they were better chess players than checkers players. So, I started playing chess because I liked that challenge better (smiles).
"I became a professional very early on. I think it was a very interesting path (becoming a chess player). Back in the day, nobody could travel and I was travelling everywhere. I felt very privileged, special." More than two decades later, Aronian remains at the very top. Gukesh takes sole lead D Gukesh produced a very solid opening and used it as a platform to take sole lead after the fifth round of the Chennai Grand Masters meet on Tuesday. Playing with black, the 17-year-old had the upper-hand throughout a very complex middle-game. With the Hungarian running into some time trouble, he had ceded positional ground and soon resigned. The win means Gukesh has 3.5 points, 0.5 better than P Harikrishna and Pavel Eljanov. More significantly, if Gukesh can hold onto the lead for the next two rounds, he will overtake Anish Giri in the FIDE circuit standings. The stakes, then, could not be higher as the circuit leader on December 31 also earns a Candidates spot.
Standings (after five rounds): 1. Gukesh (3.5), 2. Harikrishna and Eljanov (3), 4. Maghsoodloo, Erigaisi and Aronian (2.5), 7 Sjugirov (2), 8 Predke (1) Wednesday's pairings: Gukesh vs Eljanov, Aronian vs Predke, Maghsoodloo vs Erigaisi, Sjugirov vs Harikrishna.
