Lev Aronin

He was the youngest of three brothers, with Gregory (1913–2007) being the eldest, and Efim (1915–1989) being the second.

Gregory taught him chess at the age of 8, and he could recall that at the age of 14, Lev beat him and Efim simultaneously without looking at the boards while they were making the moves over the chessboards for Lev and themselves.

Gregory later told: "He was lying on the couch at another room and shouted the moves to us, for each board, and we were making them over the boards and shouting back our respective moves. It was amazing. Both games lasted for no longer than around 30 moves each, which is not trivial given both me and Efim were quite strong chess players."

Lev Solomonovich Aronin (Лев Соломонович Аронин; 20 July 1920, Kuibyshev – 4 October 1982, Moscow) was a Soviet International Master of chess.

He was a meteorologist by profession.

Aronin lost a match quite badly in 1944, to the strong, experienced Master Alexander Konstantinopolsky, by +1−6=5.

In an All-USSR First Category tournament at Gorky, 1945, Aronin scored 5/15, for 14th place out of 16 players.

However, he then achieved a very fine win in a tournament (likely a USSR Championship quarter-final) at Erevan 1945, scoring an unbeaten 12/15.

He then scored 7½/15 in the Soviet Championship semifinal, Moscow 1945, tying for 8th–9th places.

Bronstein's first encounter with Aronin, "which ended in a draw, dates back to the Semi-Final of the USSR Championship in 1945. Lev Solomonovich Aronin played successfully many times in USSR Championships but never managed to actually become the champion. He never received the title of grandmaster which he deserved without any doubt. Also, his name was removed from the list of participants of the Interzonal Tournament 1952 in Stockholm in favour of another player, a high-ranking member of the USSR Chess Federation (Alexander Kotov, T.F.). It turned out that this player was to be the winner of the tournament with a record score. In the 22nd USSR Championship played in 1955 Aronin had a totally winning position in the last round against Vasily Smyslov and therefore did not seriously analyse the adjourned position. He missed a hidden, very neat, drawing variation found by Smyslov, who had done his homework brilliantly, and had to settle for a draw, missing qualification by half a point for the Interzonal Tournament in 1952.

Aronin's style of play reminds me of Mikhail Botvinnik and Semyon Furman, very positional and safe but occasionally also using his combinative talent."

- David Bronstein

In a Candidate Masters' tournament at Kaunas, 1946, Aronin won clear first place with 11/14, losing only one game.

This earned him the Soviet Master title, and marked a big improvement in his play in just two years.

In 1946 at Tbilisi, in the USSR Championship semifinal, Aronin made an excellent tie for second place, with 11/17.

This earned him a place in his first Soviet final, held in Leningrad 1947 (15th URS-ch), and he performed creditably in super-strong company with 7/19, in a tie for 17th–18th places.

Aronin won the 1947 Championship of Moscow Region (Oblast) with an unbeaten score of 8½/10.

He then tied for sixth place in the Moscow championship of 1947 with a score of 7½/14.

He placed second in the Russian Championship at Kuibyshev with 7½/13, behind only Nikolay Novotelnov.

Then, at Leningrad 1947, the Soviet qualifying semifinal for the next final, he tied for first place with Mark Taimanov, scoring 10½/15, and qualified for his second Soviet final.

Aronin again won the Championship of Moscow Region (Oblast) in 1948 with an unbeaten score of 11½/13.

He played in the Russian Championship at Saratov 1948, tying for 5th–6th places, with a score of 8½/15.

He had to return to qualifying for the next national championship, but came through the gauntlet of the semifinal, with a fine 11/16 in Moscow 1949, tying for 2nd–3rd places, to advance.

The final (17th URS-ch) was also held in Moscow, and this marked Aronin's arrival at the elite level, as he posted a strong 10/19, good for a tie for 9th–10th places, and a 2636 performance rating, according to chessmetrics.com.

This was his first Grandmaster-level result (assuming a GM result as 2600+).

Despite his solid finish in 1949, Aronin was not exempt into the next Soviet final.

Lev Solomonovich Aronin played in eight USSR Chess Championships, which were the strongest tournaments in the world during his era, and placed as high as a tie for 2nd–4th places in 1950 at Moscow.

To qualify, he played the semifinal at Gorky 1950, which worked out much better than his 1945 visit there.

He scored 10½/15, for clear first place.

Moving on to Moscow 1950 (18th URS-ch), this tournament marked the high point of his career, as he scored 11/17 for a tie of 2nd–4th places, behind only Paul Keres.

He was exempt from qualifying the next year.

Aronin was awarded the International Master title in 1950 by FIDE, the World Chess Federation.

Very little about Aronin's chess can be found in English-language sources.

Although not quite as strong the next year, Aronin scored 9/17 at Moscow 1951 (19th URS-ch) and a tie for 9th–10th places.

Aronin had to go back to the semifinal stage to qualify for the next final, however, and he qualified successfully at Sochi 1951.

The 20th URS-ch was held at Moscow 1952, and Aronin dropped a bit from previous championships, managing only 9/19, for 12th place.

However, GM David Bronstein, in his acclaimed 1995 book The Sorcerer's Apprentice (coauthored with Tom Furstenberg) is one writer who has something to say.

Bronstein wrote that he had played several games with Aronin, and knew him quite well.

Aronin also played the Russian Championship at Gorky that same year; he tied for 2nd–4th places, with 7½/12, behind only Rashid Nezhmetdinov.

The next year saw the Soviet Championship (16th URS-ch) held in Moscow, and Aronin scored 6/18, for 18th position.