Levon Aronian lost his final game at the 2014 Tata Steel to Loek van Wely, but it hardly mattered. Aronian was on fire for the previous two weeks, winning six games and coasting to victory, having clinched the tournament title with a round to spare. Ultimately, Aronian still secured a great 8/11 score and won the tournament by 1.5 points over Anish Giri and Sergey Karjakin. It was an emphatic victory for the Armenian, who put a wide gulf between himself and the rest of the elite chess players on the ratings list. Sure, Magnus Carlsen is still the clear #1 at 2872, but Aronian is now the undisputed #2, having pushed his rating up to around 2825. With nobody else over 2790, it seems likely that Carlsen and Aronian will be the top two players in the world for some time to come.
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