Levon Aronian is one of a kind – not only a phenomenally gifted chess player, but also a colourful and quirky character. Who better, then, to subject to a “people’s interview” as part of the Crestbook “KC-Conference” project? Seize the chance to ask him your own questions today!
Who needs autographs, when Aronian is ready to answer your question? :) | photo: Fred Lucas, www.fredlucas.eu
The Armenian grandmaster needs little introduction. Instead of listing his achievements it’s perhaps enough to say that Aronian’s currently only half a point off the lead in Wijk-aan-Zee, a tournament he’s won twice before, and is also riding high on the live rating list, ranked second behind Vishy Anand on 2812.8. He’s undoubtedly a serious World Championship contender, which makes it a rare honour that he’s willing to take time off from preparing for the Candidates Matches to answer our questions.
The way it works is as follows:
- You can leave your questions for Levon Aronian in the comments section below (or in Russian at Crestbook). Please only post questions there.
- You can ask up to 10 questions, on any topic whatsoever, but remember to be polite and that Levon will have limited time. Also try to read through the earlier questions to avoid too much repetition.
- The deadline for questions is Wednesday, 2 February.
- After that deadline Levon will be sent all the questions. The only editorial control might be to correct obvious spelling/grammar mistakes and group them thematically.
- As soon as Levon has answered your questions we’ll get down to editing, translating and publishing the results, here and at Crestbook.
Before ending with Sergey Shipov’s portrait of Levon Aronian, I’d like to include one of my favourite chess anecdotes. It appeared in an Ilya Odessky report from the 2009 Tal Memorial, and is quintessential Aronian.
Levon Aronian, dropping into the press centre, was almost always sad. He was asked: “Levon, why are you so sad, after all things seem to be going well, you’re not losing and you even won a game”.
“I’m like an animal”, answered Levon.
I’m already used to such statements from the leading Armenian grandmaster. Levon can say anything, anywhere and at any time. But I also had colleagues in the press centre who were amazed. Struck dumb.
“You know why?” Levon continued.
No-one knew.
“I read in a book”, Levon continued his thought just as sadly, “that animals are distinguished from man by the fact that they never have to pretend. They just don’t have to, you understand?”
That’s how this man speaks. And that’s how he plays. You can’t mistake his style for anyone else’s.
And finally, here’s Sergey Shipov, writing at Crestbook:
Sergey Shipov on Levon Aronian
Levon Aronian is a diabolically talented lazy guy. He’s been given far more than others, and he skilfully exploits that inequality of possibilities by putting in no more effort than required.
At times Levon’s play is simple, like everything brilliant. When you look at his games you get the feeling that you could do the same yourself. But for some reason it works out for him 9 times out of 10, while for your fellow man even the one remaining game ends up cumbersome.
At times Levon’s play is totally incomprehensible and, like a magician, in reply to each of his opponent’s moves he pulls a new ace from up his sleeve. We can also play like that, but our sleeves only conceal 3s and 7s…
Aronian is favoured by the Gods. He gets lucky regularly and by definition. His victories are as natural as defeats are for the majority of us. The ease with which Levon wins games and tournaments is a delight. But it does him harm. The Armenian grandmaster has got used to acting easily and spontaneously, but as you climb the slope gets steeper and steeper. In order to conquer the world’s highest summit he needs to work harder. For example, in the opening. At home.
The habit of narrowing the scope of his work – by playing his favourite openings and almost never varying his repertoire – is a practical approach. But it won’t allow Aronian to realise his full potential. I’m sure that Levon’s also capable of playing at the necessary level – in the region of 2800 – in other openings, and in other typical positions. He only needs to want to and then to master it. What for others takes long years of painstaking work Levon, I’m sure, could polish off in a couple of months. And then you can confidently bet on him in a future World Championship match where, as we know, it’s very important to be unpredictable in the opening and able to conduct the struggle on any territory and in any style.
So those are the spots on the sun.Aronian really is a very bright person. It’s a pleasure to talk to him, and he doesn’t exude negativity, as many of his colleagues do. A sunny boy – that was what they called him in his youth. Having become a man, Levon has maintained that light and positivity.
The best way of seeing how the “KC-Conferences” work is to read through some of the earlier examples. Currently available in English are the extensive interviews with GMs:
Michal Krasenkow, Alexei Shirov, Alexander Grischuk, Alexander Khalifman (parts I, II and III) and Peter Svidler (parts I and II). Ruslan Ponomariov’s answers will also be coming soon, though for now he’s a little busy in Wijk-aan-Zee!
The comments section below is open for your questions for Levon Aronian!
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1 2 3 … 5 Next »As I mentioned above, please only post questions here! Feel free to put any general comments under another post.
By the way, Russian speakers have had a couple of days headstart at Crestbook, and by my count they've already managed to ask Aronian well over 100 questions! So the English-speaking chess world has some catching up to do :)
I would like to congratulate you on your ascent to the highest echelons of the sport. What are your views on the role of pattern recognition in chess as result of high exposure to the databases? Is it dificult to combine calculation with other mental skills such as recall,connecting the dots, seeing the big picture and calculation?
Bless you Levon.
1. I wish to know what the right balance (in terms of time spent) between over the board play (tournaments) and study time for best chess improvement in young kids. Could you reflect it from your childhood as in how many tournaments (games) did you play in a month until the time you became a master and then after upto IM and GM compared with amount of time spent studying and analyzing games.
2. In teaching kids chess -- is it best to have proper chess trainer at the very beginning so that they learn it the right way or whether this can be introduced once the kid reaches a particular level (if so what level). When did you first have a proper trainer?
3. For those whose chess strength is between 1500 and 2200 and who seek to improve, what is the best way to utilize computer (specifically computer engines) for analyzing your own games? Is it better to first analyze them yourself manually and make notes and then check with the computer? Is it detrimental if you just run the computer first and let it tell you what mistakes you made. In what way did you most benefit from chess engines when you were developing your chess?
4. Did you have a smooth rise in your ELO right from the start of your chess career? Which rating mark (was it 1800, 2000, 2200 etc. ) was the toughest to cross and what special efforts were required?
How do you trick Anand into playing like a Candidate master against you ?
1. As a chess fan, who're your favorite chess players (if you're gonna say Tal, then please add some more names). And chess-related persons (can be a player whom you adore but whose games you don't particularly admire, or a coach/analyst/composer)?
2. Has Petrosian had any special effect on your game/career/whatever?
3. Who's had the greatest influence on your development as a person? In particular, can you detect the influence (any nice stories?) of someone on your highly pleasant whimsical attitude (that comes through in your video analyses and interviews).
4. Are you interested in philosophy? Spirituality?
5. What qualities of yourself would you like to change/improve as a chessplayer? And as a person?
6. Do you ever feel irritated by chess, say at the mere look/thought of a position? If not, do you dread the day that that might start happening on a frequent basis?
Hello Aronian,
1.Who do you find the most challenging to play against and why ?
2.Do you see yourself as a future World Champion ?
Appreciate your input.
Levon, thanks a lot for answering our questions!
Recognizing your great score with the Berlin Defence (C67), I would like to ask for your opinion concerning Black's winning chances against a weaker opponent, and maybe you could give your opinion on how (un-) important deep opening preparation tends to be in this ending. Thank you!
I'm interested to know about Lev Aronian's relationship to his second(s). Can he tell us a little about the process of preparation and division of labor, as well as the personal relationship?
Greetings from Norway Levon Aronian!
Comparing your chess style with jazz, who would you be? Guess Magnus Carlsen is somewhat like Thelonius Monk, simple but yet very complex!
If a group of top players, let us say, Aronian (yepp) Anand, Kramnik and Carlsen putt their heads togheter in a match against a computer (like the Kramnik vs fritz match), do you think you would be able to come out with a win?
Have you ever played a game as smooth as kind of blue?
Have you been to Norway? There is some quite good jazz-fetivals here during summer, both more traditional and modern jazz, and many interesting young performers popping upp. (Tips & hints for your norwegian holiday can be traded for some modest opening prepps for a 1500-player! he he).
Thank you in advance for your answers!
1. Do you think there is rating inflation or not and why? Do you feel the Carlsen´s, Anand´s and yours is comparable to Kasparov´s in 2000?
2. Do you believe in the so called benefits for the mind skills of chess and why?
3. According to you, why you might think that sometimes is so difficult to chessplayers of all levels to accept some regulations intended to make the sport more professionally played? (Even the more amateur soccer or ping-pong game starts at the time agreed, and use uniforms in a tournament, for example).
4. Why do you think that most professional chess players have a very poor PR (public relations) strategy? (facebook, twitter, youtube, blogs, etc. and the ones that have any they almost all write down the same stuff of the tournaments that are being held at that time, insted of opinions, analysis, anecdotes, recomendations, their visions of the sport, etc.).
I congratulate this effort because is a very good PR effort of the chess players and the media.
I think that chess might be more popular if the player do more PR and refrain of being only geniuses finding the best play like a machine.
Regards,