ANOTHER BIG TALENT FROM A SMALL COUNTRY
Suhit Kelkar
Daily News & Analysis, India
April 5 2006
MUMBAI: There is a new knight – albeit bespectacled and looking like
a pensive software designer – on the round table of the chess elite.
He is a 23-year-old Armenian Grandmaster named Levon Aronian. In
April, he became the world number three chess player after winning
the Linares tournament in March.
Linares is not his sole achievement but it is certainly his greatest
so far. Linares is to chess what Wimbledon is to tennis: a fabled
tournament played by the world’s best, and Aronian outranked them
all. Even current world champion Veselin Topalov. An omen, perhaps?
Winning Linares is no flash in the pan, mind you. Aronian’s resume is
packed with achievements: under-12 World Champion, FIDE junior rapid
champion at age 14, and member of Armenia’s Olympic team by age 16.
Aronian caught the world’s attention by winning the FIDE World Cup
in 2005, and now Linares.
As many commentators have said, most young prodigies burn out early.
It is still anyone’s guess whether Aronian will continue to play well
or better, or whether his King will topple on the board. For now,
though, he is leading the charge of the new generation of chess
Grandmasters.
And there are many prodigies breathing down his neck: Shakhriyar
Mamedyarov and Teimur Radjabov of Azerbaijan (what is it with tiny
countries and chess talent?), Ukrainian teenager Sergey Karjakin
(remember him? He became the world’s youngest ever Grandmaster).
Raised in a climate of immense theoretical advancement, especially
in Openings, as well as the active use of computers as playing and
training tools, these players are experimenting with new ways to play
the grand old game.
Aronian is said to be an ace at blitz play (chess games with very
small time limits) and the insane one-minute chess. He is also among
the best at Fischerandom Chess, a variant of chess which emphasises
creativity and calculation over memorisation of chess theory.
Invented by the great Bobby Fischer, Fischerandom is considered by
many to be the future of chess play and Aronian will certainly be
one of its first heroes.
Looking at his record, it is unlikely that Aronian will ascend to the
greatness of Garry Kasparov, Bobby Fischer or display the dazzling
tactics of Mikhail ‘The Terrible’ Tal.
But he keeps winning, and he is the new celebrity in classical chess.
There will be speculation about Aronian’s prospects for the world
title.
He has arrived.
D=1022210