Morelia / Linares Tournament - 2006
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The Armenian chess grandmaster Levon Aronyan enhanced
his international reputation by grabbing the top prize of 100,000 Euros with
a stunning last-round victory in the Morelia/Linares tournament.
Aronyan, 23, won the highly-rated FIDE tournament of eight leading
grandmasters of the world with a victory over Peter Leko of Hungary. The
contest was held in two rounds, first in the Mexican city of Morelia and
then in Linares in Spain.
Aronyan’s opponents were Veselin
Topalov (Bulgaria), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan), Peter Leko (Hungary),
Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Pyotr Svidler (Russia), Etienne Bacrot (France)
and Francisco Vallejo Pons (Spain) (listed in order of their final
standings).
“All my relatives are happy, all my friends are in exultation, the whole
people of Armenia are rejoicing, and it is a pleasure for me that I could
give them such enjoyment with my success,” Aronyan told Russia’s
Sport-Express newspaper.
“I can’t say that I exceeded everyone at the tournament, simply I managed to
make a very important win in the last round.”
Before the 14th and final round four chess-players, including Aronyan and
Leko, shared the first spot, with 7.5 points each. Aronyan needed a victory
to ensure first place, which he secured playing black, while the other two
rivals drew, allowing the Armenian to win overall.
Asked about his objectives for the future, Aronyan said: “I have never set
objectives to myself. I have all reasons to consider myself happy. My
relatives are proud of me, and my friends are rejoicing. What else does one
need for happiness?”
It is the second major success for the promising Armenian grandmaster. Last
December he won the FIDE Chess Cup in the Russian town of Khanti-Mansiysk.
Now Aronyan is getting ready for another prestigious chess tournament in
Monaco commencing tomorrow, Saturday March 18.
Another Armenian grandmaster, Gabriel Sargsyan, won a nine-round
international tournament in Reykjavik, Iceland, which ended this week.
Sargsyan gathered seven out of a possible nine points, together with four
other chessmen, but was declared the winner by additional coefficients.
During the tournament the Armenian registered five victories and four draws,
with no defeats. According to his rating, Sargsyan was only the 8th
strongest player among the 102 participants, 30 of whom were grandmasters.
As winner of the tournament, Sargsyan landed a check for $6,000.
In women’s chess, in the 2006 world individual chess championships in
Yekaterinburg, Russia, Armenia’s grandmaster Elina Danielya lost 0-2 in the
final 16 to Russia’s Alexandra Kosteniuk. She had beaten Romania’s
representative Cristina Adela Foisor 2.5-1.5 in the previous round.
Armenia’s other representative at the championships, grandmaster Lilit
Mkrtchyan, had gone out of the tournament in the final 32, losing to Ruan
Lufei from China 1.5-2.5.