How Goa changed Levon Aronian’s life once… and could do so again

While many grandmasters spend hours in their hotel rooms hunkering behind lines and lines of prep, Aronian looks every bit like a man who’s in Goa for a vacation. And loving his time there. Since he arrived in Goa, one week before the tournament actually started, he’s explored as much of the state as he can, wandering off to beaches and posting selfies with the cows there or taking his wife and friends to an Armenian restaurant in Panaji.

It’s maybe no surprise then that the Armenia-born American GM was one of the only two men to secure a victory in the first game of the fourth round on Tuesday, defeating Polish grandmaster Radoslaw Wojtaszek on a day that saw 14 out of 16 games end in draws.

The game saw him pull out an unusual pawn push as early as the third move with the pawn on the a file advancing one square ahead (3.a3). It was a move as unique as his flamboyant shirts.

“It’s not a great line. But it works as a surprise weapon if your opponent doesn’t know it. I got lucky that Radek was not too familiar with it,” Aronian told FIDE after the win. “It was kind of a desperation which led me to try all kinds of stupid ideas. Regular ideas just lead to a draw. it’s just the state of opening in the modern game, where a draw is the most likely result.”

Unlike other players, Aronian says he has no ambitions at the World Cup. He’s not in Goa chasing the three Candidates spots. He’s not chasing the title either. Aronian is in Goa just to play chess and enjoy himself.

“It’s been a great year for me. But I just don’t have any ambition of proving or showing the world that I’m a good chess player,” Aronian had told The Indian Express before the start of the World Cup. “I’m just enjoying myself. My only ambition is to try and play my best chess. I know I can play good chess, so I’m relaxed. And if things work out, I’ll be happy to win events, I’ll be happy to play in World Championship matches or become let’s say the defender of the galaxy against the aliens. But it has to come naturally. I cannot just be sitting there and saying I want this or I want that. I’m not into that anymore.”

Judging by the way chess is flowing smoothly for Aronian this year—he’s already won a couple of events including a Freestyle Chess event—the World Cup in Goa might change his mind and his ambitions. It certainly won’t be the first time Goa has done that to Aronian. The story goes that when Aronian came to Goa in 2002 to play in the World Junior Championship (U20), he had told himself that it would be his last tournament. But as luck would have it, Aronian ended up winning the event and never left chess. That trip to Goa in 2002 also changed him in other ways: he hasn’t eaten meat in his life after that visit.

“It’s a very different circumstance now. The last time I came here, I met a couple of people, just regular people. I was walking around, and I went inside some little temple. There was a guy there, who I started talking to. Just a 10-minute conversation. But that chat influenced my philosophical understanding. Also, seeing the cows on the beach and walking everywhere, it kind of made me reassess things. And after that conversation with him, I stopped eating meat. Those conversations changed my life. As did coming to Goa. I eat fish, but I don’t eat any meat,” Aronian told Express.

For decades now, Aronian has been a dash of bright colour in a sport that’s largely black and white, serious and uptight. It’s not only because of those signature flamboyant shirts that he sports. It’s his jovial personality too, which also reflects in his chess.

“Throughout my career, I saw players who were 18 and I felt, ‘okay, this guy is about to retire’. I mean, their chess was so old-fashioned. There was so much effort in their play. And then you see some players who are over 40 and they were always playing very relaxed chess. You can see that they’re very young (mentally),” Aronian said.

And as far as those shirts go, Aronian has a tale about how those entered his life as well.

“My family moved to Germany from Armenia at the end of 2001. I didn’t really have too many things to wear. So I went to some stores, and I couldn’t really afford to buy many things. But I realised that all these colourful things on the shelves were very cheap. I guess because in Germany, maybe people don’t wear colourful, flashy things. So, that basically became my style,” Aronian said with a smile.

In Goa, where Hawaiian beach shirts are sold in every second shop, Aronian has already been restocking his wardrobe.

“Goa, and India, is generally very colourful. I feel good about (my shirts). But I’ve also bought some new shirts from here as well.”