He played in eight USSR Championships, which in his day were stronger than most international tournaments. He was awarded the IM title in 1950. Chessmetrics estimates his highest rating to have been 2674 in 1952 which put him at number 22 in the world...easily Grandmaster material.
Aronin 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. Lev won the Kuybyshev city championship in 1937 and gained the title of First Category (i.e about 2000-2125).
In 1938, he entered the Moscow Pedagogical Institute where and began playing in norm tournaments. By the end of 1940 he had obtained the title of Candidate Master (2125-2250).
In August 1941, he was drafted into the Soviet Army and was unable to devote any time to chess until the end of 1944. At that time one obtained the title of Soviet Master by winning a match against an established master. Aronin challenged Aleksandr Konstantinopolsky, but was defeated convincingly; he lost the first six games (!), but bounced back to win one and draw five.
At Yerevan in the summer of 1945, he took first place in the All-Union Championship of First-Category players and in the spring of 1946, he won a Candidate Masters tournament. Later that year, in October, he tied for second in the 15th USSR Championship Semi-Final scoring 11-6 and fulfilled the norm of Master of Sport of the USSR.
In 1946, at Tbilisi, in the USSR Championship semifinal, Aronin tied for second place and thus qualified for a place in his first Soviet final, held in Leningrad in 1947. There he scored 7-12 and finished tied for 17th–18th place.
Aronin had a number of major success in 1947 and 1948, but it wasn't until 1949 when he scored 10-9 to finish 9th in the super-strong final of the USSR Championship that he could be considered to have reached the elite level. Chessmetrics estimates his performance rating in that tournament to have been 2636 so his +1 score indicates just how string the tournament was. Smyslov won followed by Bronstein, Geller and Taimanov.
Moscow 1950 (18th USSR Championship) was the high point of his career as he scored 11-6 and tied for 2nd–4th places behind Paul Keres.
Bronstein said Aronin's style reminded him of Botvinnik's: very positional and safe but using his tactical talent only when the position called for it.
The following game is from that 18th Soviet Championship. Fifteen of the Soviet Union's best masters and GMs qualified from five semi-final tournaments held earlier in the year.
Aronin, Victor Liublinsky, and Tigran Petrosian qualified from Gorky.
Vasily Smyslov was returning Soviet champion. Mikhail Botvinnik and David Bronstein were preparing for their upcoming world championship match so what would have been their invitations went to 1947 USSR championship winner Paul Keres and world candidate semi-finalist Isaac Boleslavsky.
The Championship was dedicated as a memorial to Mikhail Chigorin's 100th birthday. The field was exceptionally strong and the results of Smyslov, Geller, Boleslavsky, Flohr and Petrosian were surprising as were the results Aronin, Lipnitsky and Tolush.
Aronin's opponent in this game, GM Alexander K. Tolush (1910-1969) was an imaginative attacking player who was one of Boris Spassky's mentors. He was born and died in St. Petersburg (in 1969 called Leningrad). He was also a correspondence IM.
The game was filled with tactical possibilities and it was the tactician Tolush who was on the receiving end of most of them!
Lev Aronin - Alexander Tolush
Result: 1-0
Site: USSR Championship, Moscow
Date: 1950.12.05
Ruy Lopez: Chigorin Defense
[...] 1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 ♘c6 3.♗b5 a6 4.♗a4 ♘f6 5.O-O ♗e7 6.♖e1 b5 7.♗b3 O-O 8.c3 d6 9.h3 ♘a5 The Chigorin Variation is one of the oldest variations of the Ruy Lopez. In modern times it was first played in Monte Carlo 1902 by Schlechter in his game against Tarrasch. In the early years black often intentionally kept his K in the center, trying to be flexible and keeping extra options. The line was refined by Chigorin around the turn of the 20th century and became the primary black defense to the Ruy Lopez for more than fifty years. 10.♗c2 At this point black has about a dozen different moves he has tried over the years. 10...c5 11.d4 ♕c7 12.♘bd2 cxd4 13.cxd4 This is the main line. Here black has also tried many different moves, 13...Nc6 being the most popular. 13...♗b7 Although less popular than 13... Nc6 this move has obtained results that are nearly the same. 14.d5 The main alternative is 14.Nf1 unblocking the B and the N can later go to either e3 or g3. 14...♖fc8 15.♗d3 ♘d7
24.♘3h4 ♕c2 Closing his eyes to the lurking danger on the K-side. He needed to bring his Q to the K's defense.
25.♕e3 Because white has plans for a K-side attack he naturally avoids the exchange of Qs. 25...♘c5 Black is still unaware of the pending danger to his K-side or he would have added a piece to the defense with 25...Nf6. 26.♗b4 An interesting tactical shot takign advantage of the precarious position of black's Q. 26...g6
27.♕f3 The immediate 27.Nxd6 was even stronger. (27.♘xd6 ♗xd6 28.♕f3 ♔g7 29.♖e2 ♕d3 30.♕xd3 ♘xd3 31.♗xd6)
30...♗e7
31.♖d1 ♗e6 This looks reasonable, but he could have gotten at least equality by taking the R!
15...♘c4 is also a reasonable alternative. 16.♘f1 ♘b6 17.♘g3 g6 18.♗g5 ♘bd7 19.♕d2 Draw agreed. Velimirovic,D (2515)-Ivanovic,B (2500)/Bar YUG 1997
16.♘f1 ♘c5 17.♘e3
17.♗c2 ♘c4 18.♘e3 a5 19.b3 ♘xe3 20.♗xe3 is equal. Pokojowczyk,J (2380)-Vogt,L (2510)/ Polanica Zdroj 1980
(17.b3!?±) 17...♘xd3 18.♕xd3 Fritz' auto-annotation is quick to point out that black has the pair of Bs, but that's meaningless here because the light squared B has very limited scope. Compare the possibilities white's Ns have to black's Bs. 18...♘c4 19.♘f5 ♗f8 20.b3 White threatens to win material: b3xc4 20...♘b6 21.♗d2 ♘d7 22.♘g5 Played to provoke ...h6 in the hopes that the weakening of black's K-side will pay dividends. 22...h6 23.♘f3 ♔h7 Tolush is being super-cautious in trying to strengthen the position of his K-side.
23...♘c5 would also be OK because there is no immediate way for white to launch a K-side attack unles black gets really careless. 24.♕e3 a5 25.♘3h4 Engines want to play 25.Kh2 or maybe 25.g4, but this was my move (evaluated equal), but I wanted to mess around with it just to see what happens. Things got wild! 25...♔h7
25...♗a6 This would be a huge blunder. 26.♘xg7 ♗xg7 27.♘f5 f6 28.♕g3 ♔h8 29.♕h4 ♖g8 30.♗xh6 wins.
26.♘xh6 Stockfish was still considering something rather bland, but watch things get real crazy after this! 26...gxh6 27.♕f3 ♕e7 28.♕f5 ♔h8 29.♕h5 ♕f6 30.♖e3 ♗e7 31.♘f5 ♕g5 32.♕xf7 ♖f8 33.♕xe7 ♖xf5 34.♕xd6 ♖g8 35.♖g3 ♘xe4 36.♕e6 ♗c8 37.♕c6 ♕xd2 38.♖xg8 ♔xg8 39.♕xc8 ♖f8 40.♕e6 ♔g7 41.♕e7 ♖f7 42.♕xe5 ♘f6 and black is supposed to be just a smidgen better, but a shootout from this position resulted in 6 draws. 24...♕d8 Threatening ...g6 forcing the N to move and leaving the N on h4 hanging. 25.♘f3
25.g4 is possible if white is feeling frisky. 25...g6 26.♔h2 gxf5 27.♘xf5 with complications. In 5 shootouts all the games were drawn.
25...♘c5 26.♕e3 with equal chances. 26...a5 27.♖ac1 ♕xe4 28.♗xc5 ♕xe3 29.♗xe3 and white has won a piece. 29...g5
29...♗xd5 This wins another P, but leaves black worse off. 30.♖xc8 ♖xc8 31.♘xd6 ♗xd6 32.♖d1 ♗xb3 33.axb3 ♗f8 From this position white scored 7-0 in shootouts. Here is the technique: 34.♘f3 f6 35.♖a1 ♖a8 36.♗c1 ♔g6 37.♔f1 h5 38.♔e2 ♔f5 39.♘d2 a4 40.bxa4 ♖xa4 41.♖b1 b4 42.♔d3 ♗c5 43.♗b2 ♖a2 44.♘e4 ♗b6 45.♘g3 ♔e6 46.f3 h4 47.♘e2 ♖a8 48.♗c3 ♗c5 49.♗xb4 ♖b8 50.♔c4 ♗xb4 51.♖xb4 ♖xb4 52.♔xb4 with a won ending.
30.♘f3 ♔g6 is his best defense. 27.♖e2 is a mistake that turns the advantage overe to black. 27...♕xe4 28.♕xe4 ♘xe4 29.♖xe4 gxf5
27...♘xe4 28.♖xe4
28.♘xd6 seems less effective. 28...♘g5 29.♕e3 ♗xd6 30.♗xd6 ♗xd5 31.♗xe5 ♕e4
28...♗xd5 29.♖ae1 ♖c6 Missing his chance to take advantage of white's 27th move.
29...a5 30.♗xd6 ♖c3 and suddenly black's control of the c-file means something' 31.♕g4 ♗xe4 32.♖xe4 h5 33.♕e2 ♕xe2 34.♖xe2 ♖c1 and black is back in the game.
30.♘g3
30.♘xg6 is flashy but doesn't lead to anything decisive. 30...fxg6 31.♘d4 ♕xe4 Best. 32.♖xe4 exd4
32...♗xe4 loses. 33.♕xe4 ♖c1 34.♔h2 ♖e8 35.♘e2 ♖cc8 36.♕b7 ♔h8 37.♘c3 and black is helpless because his pieces are so passive.
33.♖e7 ♗xe7 34.♕xd5 ♖c1 35.♔h2 ♖f8 with an unclear position, but a draw seems likely. 30...♕xa2 31.♖1e3 ♖c2 32.♘hf5 favors black, but he can't take the N at once. 32...♖xf2
32...gxf5 33.♕xf5 ♔h8 34.♗xd6 f6 (34...♗xd6 35.♕f6 wins outright.) 35.♗xf8 ♖xf2 36.♕xf2 ♕xf2 37.♔xf2 ♗xe4 38.♗e7 and white should win.
33.♕xf2 ♕xf2 34.♔xf2 gxf5 35.♘xf5 ♗xe4 36.♖xe4 d5 and black is slightly better. 31...♗xe4 32.♕xf7 ♔h8 33.♖e1 ♗xh4 34.♘xe4 ♖g8 In this complicated position white scored +1 -0 =6 in shootouts.
32.♖ee1 ♖cc8 33.♖d2 ♕c7 34.♘hf5 gxf5 35.♘xf5 ♗g5 36.♖xd6 ♗f4 In a very difficult position black collapses. Here 36...a5 was his best chance. Now white has a chance to execute a forceful conclusion. 37.♖xe6
37.♘d4 was even better. Black's best defense is... 37...♗h2 38.♔xh2 exd4 39.♕e4 ♔g8 40.♕e5 ♖ab8 41.♖e4 ♔h7 42.♖exd4 ♖g8 (42...♖e8 43.♖h4 wins.) 43.♖xe6 ♕xe5 44.♖xe5 wins.
37...fxe6 38.♘e7 ♖f8
38...♖e8 wasn't any better. 39.g3 ♖ad8 (39...♗g5 40.♕f7 mate next move.) 40.♕e4 ♔h8 41.gxf4 ♖xe7 42.♗xe7 ♕xe7 43.♕xe5 with a won ending.
39.♕e4 ♔g7 40.♕g6 ♔h8 41.♕xe6 ♔h7 42.♕g6 ♔h8 43.♗d6 ♕c3 44.♗xe5 Mate attack! Black resigned.
44.♗xe5 ♕xe5 45.♖xe5 ♖ad8 46.g3 ♖g8 47.♕f6 ♖g7 48.♕xf4 ♖d6 49.♖f5 ♖dg6 50.♘xg6 ♔h7 51.♖f7 h5 52.♘e7 a5 53.♕f5 ♔h8 54.♕xh5 ♖h7 55.♕xh7#
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