Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian has officially become a US player after completing his switch from the Armenian Chess Federation.

Aronain is currently listed 6th on FIDE World ranking.

Aronian first made a name for himself by winning the 1994 World Youth Chess Championship. He went on to lead the Armenian national team to three Olympiad gold medals (2006, 2008, 2012) and one World Team Championship gold (2011). Throughout his career Aronian has amassed many individual victories as well, including the World Cup (2005, 2017), Linares (2006), Corus/Tata Steel (2008, 2011), Norway Chess (2017), Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz (2017, 2019) and the Sinquefield Cup (2015, 2018). Aronian is also a world champion in three formats: he is a former Chess960 World Champion (2006, 2007), World Rapid Champion (2009), and World Blitz World Champion (2010).

Most recently, Aronian won the Tata Steel Chess Blitz in Kolkata. He dedicated the victory to “Armenia, to all my compatriots, to those who fell on the battlefield for Artsakh and Armenia, to those who lived and fought for our nation. I dedicate my victory to all our heroes, our brave sisters and mothers.”

The U.S. now has three players in the World Top-10: Fabiano Caruana (4), Levon Aronian (6), and Wesley So (8).

According to the US Chess Federation, US Chess is in the process of submitting an “Application for Participation in FIDE Event Prior to Eligibility Date” form which will enable Aronian to participate in the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships in December.