He is not only the man of the hour: Levon Aronian has been hurrying from one success to the next for months now.

At the FIDE Grand Prix in Jermuk he only attained the second place, but for the Armenian this was tantamount to the overall victory in the Grand Prix series.

And at the recently finished Grand Slam Final in Bilbao, Aronian demonstrated impressive dominance, deciding the tournament in his favour with a round to spare.In the meantime, Aronian has advanced to number three of the world ranking list.

By contrast, the third top event of this issue was open to the very end: at the Chess Festival in Biel, the young French player Maxime Vachier-Lagrave achieved his first very great tournament success.

Opening Surveys:

Marin: Alekhine Defence B04
1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 g6 5.Bc4 Nb6 6.Bb3 Bg7 7.Ng5 e6

Postny: Sicilian B90
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Qd2 Nbd7 9.f4 (b5 10.0-0-0)

Kritz: French C18
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Ba5!? 6.b4 cxd4 7.Nb5 Bc7 8.f4

Kuzmin: Petroff C43
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.dxe5 d5 5.Nbd2

Marin: Ruy Lopez C66
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 Bd7 5.0-0 Nf6 6. Nc3 Be7 7.Re1 exd4 8.Nxd4 0-0 9.Bxc6 bxc6

Grivas: Slav Defence D11
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nbd2 Bf5 5.Nh4 Be4

Hazai/Lukacs: Slav Defence D15
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.c5 Bf5 6.Bf4 Nbd7 7.e3

Langrock: Queen's Indian Defence E12
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 Bb7 5.Nc3 g6

Stohl: Nimzo Indian E32
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.e4 d5 6.e5 Ne4

Krasenkow: King's Indian Defence E90
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.h3

Grivas: King's Indian Defence E92
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Nf3 e5 7.Be3 exd4 8.Nxd4 Re8 9.f3 c6 10.Bf2 a6 11.0-0 b5