"Look yourself in the mirror" -Chess grandmaster Levon Aronian on Daniel Naroditsky's death

Sports Today’s representative Siddharth Vishwanathan (That Chess Guy) was joined by Grandmaster Levon Aronian for an exclusive interview after his exit from the FIDE World Cup. Levon shares his thoughts on Arjun Erigaisi, playing conditions in Goa, death of Daniel Naroditsky and more.

Siddharth Vishwanathan : So hello and a very warm welcome to this special interaction that I have. He is the nicest guy in the chess circuit at this point. Two time world cup winner, a thorough gentleman, fashion sense, absolutely brilliant. He set it up more than the chess in Goa at this point. I am joined. It gives me an absolute honor to welcome Levon Aronian two time World Cup winner but unfortunately he lost to Arjun in a very very close round of 16 that was there. Levin thank you so much for taking time out and speaking with us. What went wrong in that second game? I mean you discuss it later on the reaction that was there like oh no how did I miss that? Was it a move that just slipped or was it like the nature of the format of the chess world cup was such that yes fatigue played a role or do you think you just missed that move that happened because you yourself was surprised at the loss?

GM Levon Aronian : Yeah, I think it was kind of psychological mistake I did. So on move 31 is the first moment where I could offer a draw. Instead of I was planning to take his knight. Yes, I thought I will take the knight and offer a draw. But this was kind of rather a big change in the position. So I thought all right doesn't matter. I'll just play any other move and offer a draw and position equal. But position wasn't equal. Actually it was unpleasant after the move that I played. So I made a wrong choice and when I got an unpleasant position I kind of I was surprised. my draw offer was rejected and and yeah I think I started blundering after that. Yeah it was I think it was psychological mistake that I did there.

Siddharth Vishwanathan : Okay but Levon what happened after the game? Okay. The actions that you had, I mean, you smiled, you patiently waited, you were then, these are the actions that have made you given, that tag is given to you that you're the nicest guy on the chess circuit. Does that reputation kind of like okay make you conscious or you're just going with that flow? Because after you lose, it's not easy to compose your feelings and like okay, what happened? You always end up with a smile. You always are so positive. What is the secret behind it? What is the aura behind that?

GM Levon Aronian : I'm just grateful, you know. I'm just grateful for the opportunity, grateful to the world, and grateful to chess. So, for me, you know, you'll have wins, you'll have losses. It's part of the it's part of the work, you know, it's part of competition. And, I mean, this year I played in Las Vegas and I've beaten Arjun in a match. It was an important match.So, you know, I I like Arjun a lot. I think he's a splendid lad. And, you know, I I don't mind losing in chess because I know that I lose today, I'll win tomorrow. It's all about fighting and, you know, appreciating what you have. Indeed.

Siddharth Vishwanathan : I mean, it's a very You're the ultimate model player when you have to look at it, Levon, for the way how you conduct yourself. But do you think that looking at 2025 I mean you had tremendous success you won Las Vegas freestyle you did win St. Louis Rapid and Blitz. Do you think after a very long time this 2025 year was your best and that this World Cup loss unfortunately it's like a hammer blow or do you think you played better in previous other years prior to this?

GM Levon Aronian : No, I think it was a great year. Definitely great year of I mean for the last maybe five years. yeah, and I'm very happy about it. I think I'm, you know, I started slowly coming back to my form and seeing things. You, I mean, you'll have some bad events and good events, but I was always a player that played a lot and lost and won. But yeah, I I always fight.

Siddharth Vishwanathan : Exactly. Levon and which is why I mean you are I think perhaps the few all format versatile players. I mean freestyle you look at it you excel in that rapid and blitz you excel even in classical chess you excel not many players are able to do that and I take this in reference to Gukesh because classical he's our world champion but unfortunately when you look at rapid blitz and freestyle all of us struggle even the Indian players struggle quite a lot except for Arjun and Pragg to a certain extent how do you adjust so fluidly across all formats Is it a skill that you have to develop or do you think you need a lot of practice?

GM Levon Aronian : Well, it's a lot of practice of course also experience but I think also it's acceptance you know acceptance.

Siddharth Vishwanathan : Okay, that's very interesting. So do you think that our Indians stars yes they may doing well in the world of chess but they have not accepted the freestyle chess model as of now they are not so comfortable playing it.

GM Levon Aronian: Yeah, I think they maybe they get annoyed by the some certain intricacies in the game. You know, there are lots of unusual things and and they cannot take it seriously. It happened to me many times. I couldn't take seriously the online events. Yeah. And then yeah, you kind of grow into it.

Siddharth Vishwanathan : Yeah. Levon, I mean, last couple of questions. I mean, you spent sufficient amount of time in Goa. Okay. three weeks you reached the round of 16. You dazzled not just on the chess board but also with your fashion sense and all that. How has the hospitality been? How have the conditions been in Goa for you? Were there some shortcomings or did you like

GM Levon Aronian : Okay, I enjoyed my time here. No, I mean the playing hall is splendid. I think it's really great. the hotel is okay. I mean it could have been better. I mean, objectively speaking, I I am not going to be the one person saying everything was splendid and all these people who are complaining they're just whiny babies. No, no, there were some problems in certain things. But, you know, I understand they are common. You know, it's kind of it's not easy to organize an event. I mean I played the World Cup in Tbilisi in Georgia and there were problems in the hotel as well and many Olympiads you know you play there are problems it's a lot of players to host and and it's it's normal but what I felt was that the organizers were accommodating they were trying to provide the possible solutions to the problems and yeah I I generally feel the organization was on top of their game.

Siddharth Vishwanathan : Levon personally I mean is my assessment correct that 2025 perhaps has been a rather dark year for chess because unfortunately Danya's death Daniel Naroditsky's death cast a big shadow and we are still not recovering from that and there have been this cheating allegations that Vladimir Kramnik has gone on now there is a big process that FIDE ethics commission has done it you've already given your viewpoint on that you can't I read that article that you had given the interview to but do you think that this cheating thing and Daniel's death and all that it's a time for chess to introspect inwards as to what you have to do?

GM Levon Aronian : Yeah. I think you know when such tragedy happens it kind of a moment to reflect on ourselves. You know a lot of people online there are so many trolls there are so many people who are just jumping on a bandwagon and saying ah this guy said that this guy said that it means it's true instead of just you know looking in a mirror we're all humans you know after all I mean you can accuse me and something but only I myself know if I did it or and I personally have a very clear conscience in life. I know that I've tried to do my best to try to support my colleagues, try to maybe I mean maybe I've been proactive in some cases that I shouldn't have, but I feel like chess world is a family and I want our family to be healthy and I want our family to speak about things, but I don't want want our family to go after every single person and you know and just attack them. And what I felt with Daniel Naroditsky of course we lost a really great enthusiast for chess. We lost him due to due to bullying. I feel I don't know. I mean, I can't really judge, but I'm sure that his mental state deteriorated because of the non-stop bullying, which was done in a very sadistic manner. And I don't want this, you know, in Armenia, we say you don't wash blood with blood. I don't want this this death to cause more grievances. And now we start fighting and just punishing people who who did this to him. But I want just us to to understand how to prevent such things and people who uh have been bullying others. I want us to find mechanisms to stop it.

Siddharth Vishwanathan : Well said Levon. Well said because even when we ask questions about Danya it's really very it just shakes us to the core because gone too soon that is the general mood that we all have but trying to end this interview on a very positive note I came to know Levon that you've got great interest in Indian music you like Indian music a lot what is that aspect of Indian music that you like the most.

GM Levon Aronian : Well I mean I know many musicians but my favorite vocalist I would have to say is Kishori Amonkar. Yeah. She's definitely my favorite. Well I I love different instruments you know santoor you know sarod, I mean I listen to a lot of music every sing and hindustani music is one of my favorite genres. Oh I like everything I like jazz. I like u Gamelan. This is music from Java in Indonesia. I like classical European music.

Siddharth Vishwanathan : like since you excel in everything. You like all forms of music also. So that's why that's why it is a great great honor indeed Levon to have you on our platform and through this conversation I have learned so much like yes look yourself in the mirror. That's the one quote that I will always remember from this interview of ours. It's been a pleasure indeed, Levon. Thank you so much for taking time out and speaking with us. Thank you.

Written by Arteyo. A QuiqChess production.