Levon Aronian
Chess Grandmaster Aronian at the Mikhail Tal Memorial 2009 Moscow a show house of Main Department Store(GUM). The last day of a World Blitz Championship. Date: 18.11.09. Marina_Bogumil/bigstock.com
Birth Name: Levon Grigori Aronian
Place of Birth: Yerevan, Armenian SSR, Soviet Union (now Armenia)
Date of Birth: 6 October, 1982
Ethnicity:
*father – Ashkenazi Jewish
*mother – Armenian
Levon Aronian is an Armenian chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he earned the title of grandmaster in 2000, at 17. He held the No. 2 position in the March 2014 FIDE world chess rankings with a rating of 2830, becoming the fourth-highest rated player in history.
Levon is the son of Seda Avagyan, a mining engineer, and Grigory Leontievich Aronov, a physicist. His father is Jewish, from Vitebsk Oblast, Belarus. His mother is Armenian. Levon was married to Filipino-Australian Woman International Master chess player Arianne Caoili, until her death.
Was this his surname from birth, or did he/his family later Armenianize it?
It’s likely his mother’s surname. Armenian surnames were more advantageous for careers during the Soviet era compared to Jewish ones. This was the case for Garry Kasparov as well, as his family opted for his mother’s Armenian surname to ensure his successful future.