#WhyArmenia: Levon Aronian

Levon Aronian was born in 1982 in Yerevan, Armenia. At the age of nine, his sister Lilit taught him chess. His first coach was the Grandmaster Melikset Khachiyan. In 1994, at the age of 12, he won the World Youth Chess Championship: that was an early sign of his ability. His current world rank is 11 among all players and 9 among active players. Armenians do not only consider him to be a celebrity, but also a hero.

His accomplishments on an international level are the following:
- Aronian won the Chess World Cup in 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.
- Aronian was also World Chess960 Champion in 2006 and 2007, World Rapid Chess Champion in 2009, and World Blitz Chess Champion in 2010.
-In 2015, he won the 3rd Annual Sinquefield Cup.

On the Armenian level:
- Aronian has been the leading Armenian chess player since the early 2000s.
- 2005: the best sportsman of Armenia.
- 2009: Honoured Master of Sport of the Republic of Armenia.

We can say that Aronian knows how to move the pieces!