Aronian wins chess tournament in The Netherlands

By Asbarez | Monday, 30 January 2012

Aronian holds up his prize in Netherlands

WIJK AAN ZEE, The Netherlands—Armenian chess player Levon Aronian, currently ranked no. 2 in the world, won first place at the prestigious Tata Steel Tournament in Wijk aan Zee on Sunday, closing in on world no. 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway.

Aronian secured first place with 9 points, a full point ahead of Carlsen, Taimur Radjabov (Azerbaijan), and Fabiano Caruana (Italy).

He has shared first place at Wijk aan Zee twice before, in 2007 with Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) and Radjabov, and in 2008 with Carlsen. His victory this year, a full-point ahead of the rest of the field, is testament to his brilliant performance at the tournament.

Aronian, 29, has registered a number of top tournament victories in recent years and has cemented his position as one of the top chess players in the world today. He also led Armenia’s national team to victories in the Chess Olympiad (2006 and 2008) and in the World Team Championships (2011).

Held since 1938 under different names, the Tala Steel Tournament boasted the participation of 11 of the world’s top 20 chess players. This year, the tournament set a record in terms of the average rating of the participants.

Below are the final results.