What
a season! Levon Aronian, the 24‑year‑old Armenian,
is on fire. This season he has already won the World Cup, the
Linares Chess Tournament, and last weekend he led the Armenian
national team to the gold medal in the 37th Chess Olympiad played
in Turin, Italy.
Aronian
played ten of the thirteen rounds of the tournament.
He lost only one of his games, and that was in round 5 against
world champion Vladimir Kramnik, who was playing in the first
board for Russia.
The
Russian team failed to even place itself on the medal stand.
This can lead us to believe the years of Russian dominance have
ebbed at the Chess Olympiad. Russia is no longer a checkmate
for first place as it was during its golden era.
The
silver medal instead went to China, and the bronze to the United
States. These results are very interesting. Not only because
Russia did not take gold, but because the outstanding results
of the American team attest to the robust health of American
chess. The same can be said for China, which no doubt is emerging
as a chess powerhouse.
The
game we present today was played in the 11th round of the tournament,
with Armenia playing against the Czech Republic. This Aronian
victory proved to be among the most brilliant of the Olympiad.
After seeing him winning so often and so convincingly, we have
to begin talking about Aronian as one of the favorites for the
world championship.
