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Chess: FIDE Confirms Aronian's Top Status Before Candidates' Matches

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  • Chess: FIDE Confirms Aronian's Top Status Before Candidates' Matches

    CHESS: FIDE CONFIRMS ARONIAN'S TOP STATUS BEFORE CANDIDATES' MATCHES
    By Suren Musayelyan

    ArmeniaNow
    02.05.11

    Aronyan is ranked third in the list of Top 100 Chess Players.

    Armenia's top grandmaster Levon Aronian remains one of only three
    current chess players with a FIDE rating of above the 2800 mark,
    confirming his highest status at Candidates' Matches beginning in
    Russia later this week.

    According to the latest statistics released by the sport's
    international governing body on May 1, the 28-year-old Armenian chess
    ace is ranked third in the list of Top 100 Players with a rating of
    2808 - next to current world champion Viswanathan Anand from India
    and Norway's Magnus Carlsen, who, respectively, boast of ratings as
    high as 2817 and 2815.

    In the absence of Carlsen at the World Candidates' Tournament due in
    Kazan, Russia, on May 4-26, Aronian is thus considered a favorite to
    win the right to challenge Anand in the 2012 World Chess Championship.

    Aronian's immediate rival in Kazan is Russian grandmaster Alexander
    Grischuk (ranked 12th on the FIDE May 1 list), against whom the
    Armenian has a favorable record in 28 career games - nine victories
    against the Russian's five.

    The best-of-four quarterfinal match is scheduled to start on May 5
    and will include tiebreak options of rapid, blitz and even Armageddon
    games. The winner of the Aronian-Grischuk match will progresses to
    the semifinal to meet the winner of the Vladimir Kramnik (Russian)
    v Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) quarterfinal match. The other two
    quarterfinal pairs are Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) v Gata Kamsky (USA)
    and Boris Gelfand (Israel) v Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan). This
    second pool of four players will produce the second finalist for the
    best-of-four decisive match. The tournament's total prize fund is
    420,000 euros (more than $620,000), according to organizers (check
    here for other details http://russiachess.org).

    Remarkably, Aronian's seconds at the Kazan matches will be Sergei
    Movsesian and Gabriel Sargissian, who are, respectively, 35th and 79th
    on the current FIDE Top 100 Player list that also includes 71st-ranked
    Vladimir Akopian. (Traditionally in chess, like in old-fashioned
    duels or in modern-day boxing matches, seconds are aides in charge
    of ensuring fair play).

    Aronian is approaching this major competition in his career in the
    capacity of the reigning World Blitz Chess Champion after winning
    the title in a highly competitive tournament in Moscow, Russia,
    last November. So far this year Aronian has won only one tournament
    (the 20th and final edition of Melody Amber blindfold/rapid chess in
    Monaco in March).

    The Armenian grandmaster's previous attempt to become a challenger
    to the holder of the world chess crown in 2007 ended in a failure
    as he finished only seventh out of eight players in the candidates'
    tournament.

    (Check FIDE's official website www.fide.com for the latest news and
    announcements relating to the Candidates' Matches as well as its
    ratings section for Armenia-related statistics, including on female
    players, and chess-playing nations' current rankings).




    From: A. Papazian
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