 They first met in 1996, at the World Youth Chess Championships in Las Palmas, and became friends in 2006, being introduced by their mutual friend Alex Wohl.Aronian and Caoili became officially engaged in 2015 and were married on 30 September 2017 at the 13th-century Saghmosavank Monastery, with then Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and his wife Rita Sargsyan in attendance.She spoke English and Tagalog fluently, and had studied for a Ph.D. at a German university on "Russian foreign policy, especially its economic and business relations with Armenia on a state and individual level".