Check, Mate!: Armenia retains title at Chess Olympiad

Check, Mate!: Armenia retains title at Chess Olympiad

By Suren Musayelyan

ArmeniaNow reporter

25 November, 2008

Champions in chess will wear their crown for another two years, it emerged at the Chess Olympiad in Germany Tuesday evening.

Armenias men, the winning team of the previous biannual event in Turin, beat China in the 11th and final round of the Dresden tournament 2.5-1.5 to secure the first spot and retain the title.

On the way of defending the title Armenias chess aces Levon Aronyan, Vladimir Hakobyan, Gabriel Sargsyan and Tigran L. Petrosyan beat Italy, Moldova, Faroe Islands, the Netherlands, Azerbaijan, Russia, France, and China and drew with the strong team of Ukraine. Armenias only defeat came from Israel in Round 9.

President Serzh Sargsyan, who also heads the countrys Chess Federation, left for Dresden on Monday to be present at the Tuesday match and be the first to congratulate the team on repeating their success of 2006. Sargsyan thus made good on his promise given to the grandmasters while their training assemblies in Jermuk earlier this month to attend one of their games in Germany.

The news of the win from Dresden was met with great jubilation at the Chess House in Yerevan where hundreds of faithful fans followed the games live.

Ive had no doubts that our guys will do it. But in any case I feel greatly relieved that its over now and we can celebrate our success, said one fan after learning the news.

Meanwhile, Armenias women finished outside the top six, but scored a number of memorable victories during the tournament, among them the demolition of the Azerbaijani team 4-0.