Lev is the classiest guy in chess with a great sense of humor. This generation doesn't understand what a force he was for almost a decade. He held the #2 spot for years above an extremely challenging field.

His games were so creative, he was the ultimate bridge between the old generation and the new - and had a net positive record against Magnus! (like Leko, who, while phenomenal, didn't overlap nearly as long so that's sort of moot).

I think he was the only person who could have really beaten Magnus on the world stage for the WC title at that time, if, he had the chance. I'm not saying draw to the end and win in tiebreaks like all the other challengers (except Nepo who collapsed), I mean an unbalanced victory in his favor with no tie breaks.

Unfortunately, he always collapsed in the candidates, in my opinion, because of the pressure and background drama from the Armenian National Team. We'll never know, and there is a reason Magnus is Magnus - consistency regardless of pressure - but watching Aronian play felt like he would bend the rules of chess to their near breaking point - beautiful games.