Lev Aronin
Notable Games

Lev Aronin

15 celebrated games · 183 in the full archive
Player Index ◈ Biography 183 CURATED GAMES

Notable Games

  • 1940 Aronin, Lev Solomonovich vsPanov, Vasily N 1-0 Sicilian Defense: Scheveningen Variation, Modern Variation 31 moves Moscow-ch sf Moscow championship semifinal 1940 — the earliest game in the archive, against Vasily Panov, whose name is on the Panov–Botvinnik Attack and who is himself a study player here. Thirty-one moves: 20.f5 and 21.fxe6 rip the king open, and the knights finish it — 28.Nf7+ Kg8 29.N3e5 Be8 30.Nh6+ Kh8 31.Rxf6.
  • 1947.02.26 Flohr, Salo vsAronin, Lev Solomonovich 0-1 King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation 43 moves URS-ch15 Final USSR Championship final 1947 with Black against Salo Flohr — a study player in this archive, and a decade earlier the officially designated challenger for Alekhine's world title. Aronin holds the King's Indian together under a long squeeze and turns it around: 37.Bxa5 Qa6 38.Bc7 Qxc4, 40.Bxd6 Qxb2, and 43.e5 Nxe5 leaves White a piece short.
  • 1947.04.22 Aronin, Lev Solomonovich vsBronstein, David Ionovich 1-0 Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Opocensky Variation 51 moves Moscow-ch26 Final Moscow championship final 1947 against David Bronstein, four years from tying a World Championship match with Botvinnik. Fifty-one moves: the rooks all come off by move thirty-six, and Aronin's queen and bishop hunt the black king across the board until 49.g4 Bf6 50.Qf8+ Bg7 51.Qxg7+.
  • 1948.11.11 Taimanov, Mark E vsAronin, Lev Solomonovich 0-1 Sicilian Defense: Dragon Variation, Accelerated Dragon 86 moves URS-ch16 Final USSR Championship final 1948 with Black against Mark Taimanov, also a study player here. Eighty-six moves, the longest game in the archive after one other: a rook ending where Aronin refuses every repetition, breaks with 78...hxg4 79.hxg4 Kg5, and gives the rook back at 83.Rxf6 Rh4+ 84.Kg3 Kxf6 to reach a won king-and-pawn ending.
  • 1949 Aronin, Lev Solomonovich vsKamyshov, Mikhail Petrovich 1-0 Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack, Center Variation 14 moves URS-ch17 Semifinal USSR Championship semifinal 1949 — fourteen moves, the shortest game in the archive. Not one piece is captured after move eight: Aronin marches the f-pawn to f6 with 11.f5, 13.f6 g6 and 14.Qd2, and the threat of mate on the long diagonal cannot be met.
  • 1950.11.20 Petrosian, Tigran V vsAronin, Lev Solomonovich 0-1 Semi-Slav Defense 62 moves URS-ch18 Final USSR Championship final 1950 with Black against Tigran Petrosian, thirteen years from the world title. Sixty-two moves and the finish is pure pawn arithmetic: 56...b3 57.axb3 a2 58.Bc3 Kf4 forces the bishop to watch the a-pawn while Aronin's king eats the kingside — 60...Kxg2, 61...Kxh3, 62...Kg4.
  • 1951.11.14 Aronin, Lev Solomonovich vsPetrosian, Tigran V 1-0 Ruy Lopez: Closed, Yates Variation 39 moves URS-ch19 Final USSR Championship final 1951, Petrosian again and this time with White. A Closed Ruy Lopez in which Aronin gives up two queenside pawns for the initiative — 14...Nxb2 15.Qb1 Na4 — wins the exchange back with the c-pawn, and 35.c6 Rc7 36.Rd7 Rd8 37.Kf2 leaves the pawn one square from queening.
  • 1951.12.09 Aronin, Lev Solomonovich vsBronstein, David Ionovich 1-0 Sicilian Defense: Accelerated Dragon, Maróczy Bind 42 moves URS-ch19 Final The same 1951 championship, and Bronstein again — in the year he drew his World Championship match with Botvinnik. A Maróczy Bind against the Accelerated Dragon: 31.c5 and 32.cxd6 get the pawn rolling, 37.Rc7 Rxc7 38.dxc7 pushes it to the seventh, and 42.c8=Q settles it.
  • 1952.12.23 Aronin, Lev Solomonovich vsBoleslavsky, Isaak 1-0 Sicilian Defense: Dragon Variation, Yugoslav Attack 42 moves URS-ch20 Final USSR Championship final 1952 against Isaak Boleslavsky, a Candidates finalist the year before. A Yugoslav Attack that never becomes an attack at all — everything is traded by move twenty-eight — and Aronin wins the bishop ending by walking his king to b4 and squeezing with 40.a4 a5+ 41.Ka3 Bf7 42.c3.
  • 1954.09 Tal, Mikhail vsAronin, Lev Solomonovich 0-1 Caro-Kann Defense 41 moves URS-chT Cup 02nd Soviet team cup 1954 with Black against a seventeen-year-old Mikhail Tal, six years from the world title — and Tal plays it exactly as you would expect: 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.Rxe6+ Kf7 13.Ng5+ fxg5 14.Qxh5+ Kxe6, two pieces thrown at the king in four moves. Aronin walks the king to safety, wins the endgame, and 41.Re8 Rxf7+ ends it.
  • 1954.09 Aronin, Lev Solomonovich vsPetrosian, Tigran V 1-0 Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation 97 moves URS-chT Cup 02nd The same 1954 team event, Petrosian for the third time — and ninety-seven moves, the longest game in the archive. Rook and pawns against rook and bishop for nearly fifty moves; Aronin walks the a-pawn to a7, gives it up to force the king into the corner, and grinds it out to 97.Rb7.
  • 1957.02.19 Aronin, Lev Solomonovich vsKorchnoi, Viktor Lvovich 1-0 Grünfeld Defense: Three Knights Variation, Petrosian System 60 moves URS-ch24 Final USSR Championship final 1957 against Viktor Korchnoi, later twice a World Championship challenger. The queens come off at 47.Qf5 Qxf5 48.Bxf5, and Aronin wins a rook-and-bishop ending by restricting the black bishop to squares it cannot use: 53.Rc5, 54.Bc8, 58.Ra6, and 60.f5.
  • 1962.08 Aronin, Lev Solomonovich vsStein, Leonid 1-0 Ruy Lopez: Classical Variation 42 moves URS-ch30 Semifinal USSR Championship semifinal 1962 against Leonid Stein, who would win the Soviet title three times in the next five years. Aronin gives up the exchange in the opening — 15.Bxf5 Nxf1 — and never gets it back on the board; instead 34.g6 fixes the king and the rooks take the seventh: 40.Qe7, 41.Rd6, 42.Rd8.
  • 1962.12.03 Tal, Mikhail vsAronin, Lev Solomonovich 0-1 Sicilian Defense: Accelerated Dragon, Maróczy Bind 37 moves URS-ch30 Final USSR Championship final 1962 — Tal again, eight years after the first, and now a former World Champion. Tal sacrifices the exchange with 23.Rxf7 Nf4 24.g3 Kxf7 25.Nd6+; Aronin survives the checks, takes on b2 and e2, and by 34...Bh6 35.Nxe7+ Kh8 the attack is spent and the queen and bishop are simply better.
  • 1965 Aronin, Lev Solomonovich vsKorzin, Vitaly A 1-0 Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, English Attack 18 moves Moscow-ch42 Moscow championship 1965, eighteen moves. Queens come off at 15.Qxh6 Bxh6+ and Black is lost anyway: 16.Kb1 d5 17.Nf6+ Ke7 18.Ng4 traps the bishop on h6 with the king stuck in the middle and every piece hanging.
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