![](https://en.armradio.am/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Levon-Aronian.jpg)
Armenia’s leading grandmaster Levon Aronian participates in World Rapid and Blitz Championships 2019 held in Moscow December 26-30.
More than 250 chess players have arrived in Moscow, including reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway, Anish Giri (the Netherlands), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), Vladislav Artemyev (Russia), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia).
The championship is held under the patronage of the King of Saudi Arabia Salman, but Russia hosts the event for the second year in a row.
Saudi Arabia received the right to hold three tournaments, but was able to accept only the first in 2017, which turned out to be scandalous. Israeli players were left out of the competition because they were denied visas.