Levon Aronian to play under US flag

YEREVAN, December 1. /ARKA/. Armenia’s leading chess player since the early 2000, GM Levon Aronian, who led the Armenian national team to the gold medals in the Chess Olympiads in 2006, 2008 and 2012 and a two-time FIDE World Cup winner, will play under the U.S. flag starting from December 1, 2021 armsport reported.

The US Chess Federation has changed Aronian's profile on FIDE's website. He currently ranks sixth in the FIDE rankings with 2,772 points.

In February 2021 Aronian announced his intention to leave the Armenian Chess Federation and join the U.S. team, citing "the government's absolute indifference to Armenian chess" and its failure to fulfill its promises regarding the development programs for this sport. He said each year of waiting for a change was a wasted year of his sports career. -0--