Levon Aronian Games: Guess the Move

Levon Aronian was born in 1982 and earned the grandmaster title in 2000. His individual achievements include winning the FIDE World Cup in 2005 and 2017, Linares in 2006, and Norway Chess in 2017. He also played a leading role in Armenia's team successes: Olympiad gold medals in 2006, 2008, and 2012, alongside a World Team Championship victory in 2011. These results span knockout events, elite round robins, and team competitions. In 2021 he switched from the Armenian federation to the United States, continuing an international career that had already placed him among the world's strongest players.

Aronian's games offer a useful setting for studying creativity under practical constraints. When choosing candidate moves, look beyond immediate threats to piece routes, pawn breaks, and the coordination an attack requires. An unusual move still needs a concrete answer to the opponent's strongest reply. The collection here includes wins against Anand and Carlsen, as well as games from Armenia's Olympiad campaigns. Study each position before revealing the continuation, then compare the plan behind your choice with Aronian's move. Revisit positions where you missed a quiet improvement or rejected an active idea too quickly; those decisions can be more instructive than the final combination.

Solitaire Chess is a way to study a master game by predicting one side's moves before looking at the continuation. In this Guess the Move collection, you play the winning side of Aronian's games and compare your decisions with his choices.

Choose a game above, consider candidate moves, and commit to your choice before checking the feedback. Use your score to find positions worth revisiting, then explain the idea behind the game move in your own words.