Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronian moving to U.S.February 26, 2021 - 13:26 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronian announced on Friday, February 25 that he is leaving Armenia to represent the United States. Rumors about Aronian moving from Armenia started circulating months ago, with the player promising to make a statement on the matter as soon as possible. In a message published on his Facebook page on Friday, Aronian said the Armenian authorities have not been honoring their commitment to develop chess in the country. "After the revolution of 2018, the new government promised to continue [the support provided to the field by the previous authorities], but that promise was limited to a year of partial support before stopping altogether," Aronian wrote. "I did not manage to explain to the new government that chess is a great legacy, that our success in this field is, perhaps, one of the greatest achievements of our country. "Their response was: "Our experts believe that Levon Aronian no longer has potential." Aronian went on to reveal that he has now accepted American philanthropist and chess patron Rex Sinquefield's proposal to move to the United States and join grandmaster Fabiano Caruana's team. Aronian has been the leading Armenian chess player since the early 2000s and is much loved by the public and Armenians worldwide. He won the FIDE World Cup in 2005 and 2017, led the Armenian national team to the gold medals in the Chess Olympiads of 2006 (Turin), 2008 (Dresden) and 2012 (Istanbul) and at the World Team Chess Championship in Ningbo 2011. Aronian won the FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010. He was also world champion in Chess960 in 2006 and 2007, in rapid chess in 2009, and in blitz chess in 2010. As of February 2021, Aronian is No. 6 in the world, with a FIDE rating of 2781. Top stories Armenian gymnast, Olympic bronze medalist Artur Davtyan has reached the finals of the World Cup. Gor Manvelyan has denied reports alleging that he has expressed a desire to one day play for the French national team. Roma midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan is not considering FC Spartak Moscow as his next haven, according to fresh reports. 10 Armenian lifters will compete in the 2021 World Championships scheduled to be held from 7 to 17 December in Tashkent. Partner news | Armenia to participate in key EU meeting for the first time ever National Assembly speaker Alen Simonyan has said that Armenia will for the first time participate in the Conference. U.S. reacts to Russia’s criticism of upcoming Armenia-EU-U.S. meeting Matthew Miller has weighed in on Russia’s criticism of an upcoming Armenia-EU-U.S. meeting. Lavrov sees ‘collapse’ of Russia’s ties with Armenia Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has underscored heightened tensions between Russia and Armenia. Russia clarifying reports on Baku’s alleged arms supply to Ukraine Russia says is carefully working to verify reports about alleged arms supplies from Azerbaijan to Ukraine |