Armenian chess player GM Ara Minasian scored 8,5 points out of 11 and shared the 4th-8th places in the tournament which was held in Mashhad, Iran. Minasian was only half a point behind the winners, GM Konstantine Shanava (Georgia), GM Sergei Tiviakov (Netherlands) and IM Virginijus Grabliauskas (Lithuania).

Armenian chess players GM Gevorg Harutjunyan, Suren Poghosian, GM Ara Minasian have scored 6,5 points each out of 9 and are only one point behind the leaders, GM Azer Mirzoev (Azerbaijan) and GM Konstantine Shanava (Georgia) in the tournament which is being held in Mashhad, Iran.

Two rounds are left before the end of the tournament.
 

Results
Topalov, Veselin - Gelfand, Boris      1-0
Aronian, Levon   - Gashimov, Vugar     1-0
Vallejo Pons     - Grischuk, Alexander ½-½

Final standing
1. Topalov, Veselin    6½
2. Grischuk, Alexander 6
3. Aronian, Levon      5½
4. Vallejo Pons        4
5. Gelfand, Boris      4
6. Gashimov, Vugar     4

You can follow the games of the Linares tournament on our website on February 13-16, 18-21, 23-24 at 19:00 (Yerevan time). Online
 

Results
Grischuk, Alexander - Topalov, Veselin 1-0
Gelfand, Boris      - Aronian, Levon   ½-½
Gashimov, Vugar     - Vallejo Pons     ½-½
 

Armenian GM David Arutinian (Georgia) scored 7 points out of 9 and shared the 2nd-10th places in the big open which was held in Capelle-la-Grande, France. Arutinian was only half a point behind the winner, GM Yaroslav Zherebukh (Ukraine).

652 chess players took part in the tournament.
 

Suren Poghosian, Levon Babujian, Gevorg Harutjunyan have scored 4 points each out of 4 and are sharing the 1st-9th places.
 

Ovik Hayrapetian took the title of the champion in the first Armenian championship of chess problems solving which was held in Yerevan.

The championship was devoted to the centenary of famous great chess composer Genrikh Kasparian.
 

Levon Babujian, Suren Poghosian, Gevorg Harutjunyan, Aghasi Inants have scored 3 points each out of 3 and are among the leaders of the open which is being held in Mashhad, Iran.

226 chess players are taking part in the tournament.
 

Results
Topalov, Veselin    - Aronian, Levon  ½-½
Grischuk, Alexander - Gashimov, Vugar 1-0
Vallejo Pons        - Gelfand, Boris  ½-½
 

FIDE published the final list of the participants of the Women's Grand Prix 3rd tournament which is to be held in Nalchik, Russia from April 25 to May 8, 2010.

We will see in Nalchik the two strongest woman chess players of Armenia, Elina Danielian and Lilit Mkrtchian. Their opponents will be Humpy Koneru (India), Hou Yifan, Zhao Xue (China), Pia Cramling (Sweden), Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia), Tatiana Kosintseva, Baira Kovanova (Russia), Zhu Chen (Qatar), Munguntuul Batkhuyag (Mongolia), Betul Yildiz (Turkey).
 

Results
Aronian, Levon  - Vallejo Pons        ½-½
Gashimov, Vugar - Topalov, Veselin    ½-½
Gelfand, Boris  - Grischuk, Alexander ½-½
 

FIDE published the list of the participants of the Grand Prix last tournament which is to be held in Astrakhan, Russia from 9 to 25 May, 2010. We remind that Levon Aronian has become the winner of the Grand Prix independent of the results of this stage and he won't play in Astrakhan, by the FIDE agreement.

Our other participant, Vladimir Akopian will take part in Astrakhan. His opponents will be Boris Gelfand (Israel), Peter Leko (Hungary), Vassily Ivanchuk, Ruslan Ponomariov, Pavel Eljanov (Ukraine), Peter Svidler, Dmitri Jakovenko, Evgeni Alekseev, Ernesto Inarkiev (Russia), Vugar Gashimov, Teimour Radjabov, Shahriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), Vang Yue (China).
 

Results
Topalov, Veselin    - Vallejo Pons   1-0
Gashimov, Vugar     - Gelfand, Boris ½-½
Grischuk, Alexander - Aronian, Levon ½-½
 

IM Robert Hovhannisyan, GMs Artur Chibukhchian, Samvel Ter-Sahakyan and Gevorg Harutjunyan scored 6 points each out of 9 and took the 7th-10th places respectively in the tournament which was held in Rash, Iran. GM Farid Abbasov (Azerbaijan) took the first prize with 7 points.
 

Results
Topalov, Veselin - Grischuk, Alexander 1-0
Aronian, Levon   - Gelfand, Boris      ½-½
Vallejo Pons     - Gashimov, Vugar     0-1
 

"Caspian Cup" open which is being held in Rash, Iran is approaching the finish. 80 chess players from Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Iran are taking part in the tournament.

Before the end of the last round GMs Artur Chibukhchian, Levon Babujian and IM Robert Hovhannisyan have scored 5,5 points each out of 8 and have relatively high results among the Armenian chess players. They are all behind the three leaders with one point.
 

16-year-old chess player David Shahinyan from Vanadzor, Armenia, after winning in the Moscow Open, took the first prize in the Aeroflot-Open which is being held in the capital of Russia. David scored 7,5 points out of 9 and solely took the first place in the C tournament.

One round is left before the end of the A1 and A2 tournaments.

Gabriel Sargissian, who has so far scored 5 points out of 8, has got the best result among Armenian chess players in the A1 group. The leaders are Le Quang Liem and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (Vietnam) with 6 points each.

In the A2 tournament Artur Gabrielian has scored 5,5 points and is behind the leaders, Aleksei Pridorozhni (Russia) and Sergey Pavlov (Ukraine) with half a point.

You can follow the games of the Aeroflot Open on our website till February 17, 2010 starting at 16:00 (Yerevan time). Online
 

Results
Grischuk, Alexander - Vallejo Pons     ½-½
Gashimov, Vugar     - Aronian, Levon   ½-½
Gelfand, Boris      - Topalov, Veselin ½-½
 

After the 7 rounds of the A1 tournament of the Aeroflot-Open which is being held in Moscow, Russia, the leaders are Boris Grachev, Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia), Boris Savchenko (Ukraine), Le Quang Liem and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (Vietnam) with 5 points each. Gabriel Sargissian, Arman Pashikian and Sergey Grigoriants have scored 4, Zaven Andriasian, Hrant Melkumyan - 3,5 points each.

In A2 tournament Artur Gabrielian has scored 5 points and is behind the leader, Aleksei Pridorozhni (Russia) with half a point. Tigran Kotanjian, Davit G. Petrosian have scored 4, Melikset Khachiyan 3,5 points.

David Shahinyan and Eduard Khatoev (Russia) are leading the C tournament with 6,5 points out of 8. Ashot Avetisyan and Eduard Barsamian are behind with half a point each. In this group one round is left before the finish.
 

Results
Aronian, Levon  - Topalov, Veselin    ½-½
Gashimov, Vugar - Grischuk, Alexander ½-½
Gelfand, Boris  - Vallejo Pons        ½-½
 

After the 6 rounds of the A1 tournament of the Aeroflot-Open which is being held in Moscow, Russia, the leaders are Boris Grachev (Russia), Le Quang Liem and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (Vietnam) with 4,5 points. Arman Pashikian is behind the leaders with only half a point. Gabriel Sargissian has scored 3,5, Zaven Andriasian, Sergey Grigoriants - 3 points each, Hrant Melkumyan - 2,5 points.

Artur Gabrielian is one of the six leaders of the A2 tournament with 4,5 points. Tigran Kotanjian is behind with half a point. Melikset Khachiyan has scored 3,5, Davit G. Petrosian - 3 points.

David Shahinyan continues leading solely the C tournament where seven rounds have been played. Shahinyan has scored 6,5 points. His nearest opponent is Eduard Barsamian who is behind with half a point.
 

Results
Grishchuk    - Gelfand  1-0
Topalov      - Gashimov 1-0
Vallejo Pons - Aronian  ½-½
 

Results
Vallejo Pons - Topalov   ½-½
Aronian      - Grishchuk ½-½
Gelfand      - Gashimov  ½-½
 

Levon Aronian is taking part in the traditional supertournament which is being held in Linares, Spain, from February 13 to 24, 2010. Armenian GM's opponents are GMs Veselin Topalov, Boris Gelfand, Alexander Grischuk, Vugar Gashimov and Fransisco Vallejo Pons.
 

Levon Aronian will take part in the traditional rapid chess tournament which is going to be held in León, Spain from June 3 to 7, 2010. Boris Gelfand, Fransisco Vallejo Pons and Lenier Dominguez Perez will be Armenian Grandmaster's opponents.
 

After the 4 rounds of the A1 tournament of the Aeroflot-Open which is being held in Moscow, Russia, the leaders are Le Quang Liem and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (Vietnam) with 3,5 points. Arman Pashikian, Hrant Melkumyan, Sergey Grigoriants have scored 2,5 points each, Gabriel Sargissian - 2, Zaven Andriasian - 1,5 points.

Artur Gabrielian has scored 3 points and is behind the leaders with half a point in the A2 tournament. Tigran Kotanjian, Davit G. Petrosian and Melikset Khachiyan have got 2 points each.

Six rounds have been played in the B tournament. Tigran Simonian has scored 4 points and is behind the leaders with one point.

16-year-old chess player David Shahinyan from Vanadzor, Armenia continues playing wonderfully in the C tournament. He has won all the six games played and is solely leading the tournament. Shahinyan's nearest opponent is Eduard Barsamian who is behind with one point.
 

After the 3 rounds of the A1 tournament of the Aeroflot-Open which is being held in Moscow, Russia the leader is Le Quang Liem (Vietnam) with 3 points. Arman Pashikian, Hrant Melkumyan, Sergey Grigoriants have scored 2 points each, Gabriel Sargissian - 1,5, Zaven Andriasian - 1 point.

One of the leaders of the A2 tournament is Artur Gabrielian with 2,5 points. Tigran Kotanjian, Davit G. Petrosian and Melikset Khachiyan are behind with half a point.

Four rounds have been played in the B tournament. Tigran Simonian has scored 3 points and is behind the leaders with half a point.

David Shahinyan and Levon Karamyan are playing excellently in the C tournament. They have won all the four games and are leading the tournament.
 

Armenian chess player Hrant Melkumyan won Alexey Dreev (Russia), Sergey Grigoriants (Russia) - Anton Korobov (Ukraine), Gabriel Sargissian had a draw with Ildar Khairullin (Russia), Arman Pashikian - with Alexander Motylev (Russia), Zaven Andriasian - with Andrei Volokitin (Ukraine), Yuriy Ajrapetjan (Ukraine) lost the game with Luke McShane (England) in the A1 tournament of the Aeroflot Open which is being held in Moscow, Russia.
 

Armenian GM Arman Pashikian won Renier Vazquez Igarza (Spain), Zaven Andriasian had a draw with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), Gabriel Sargissian - with Zhou Weiqi (China), Hrant Melkumyan - with Krishnan Sasikiran (India), Sergey Grigoriants (Russia) - with Borki Predojevic (Bosnia/Herzegovina), Yuriy Ajrapetjan (Ukraine) - with Zhou Jianchao (China) in the A1 tournament of the Aeroflot Open which is being held in Moscow, Russia.
 

Chess club "Baden-Baden" with Armenian GM Sergei Movsesian in its composition, is leading the German Bundesliga Championship with perfect result - 18 points out of 18 after 9 rounds.

6 rounds are left before the end of the tournament.
 

16-year-old David Shahinyan from Vanadzor (Armenia) had brilliant success in the B tournament of the Moscow Open which was held in the capital of Russia. He scored 8,5 points out of 9 and solely took the first prize among the 400 chess players of the tournament.

It is worthy to emphasize that Armenian junior's result was also the best among the 1226 participants of the festival.
 

GM Hrair Simonian took the title of Armenian 2010 rapid chess champion. He scored 7 points out of 8 in the championship which was held in Yerevan and solely took the 1st place among the 30 participants (including 6 GMs).
 

GM Hrair Simonian took the 2nd prize in the blitz internet tournament which was organized by the FIDE and received a right to take part in the next stage of the World's blitz championship.
 

Levon Aronian will take part in the traditional supertournament which is to be held in Linares, Spain, from February 12 to 25, 2010. Armenian GM's opponents will be GMs Veselin Topalov, Boris Gelfand, Alexander Grischuk, Vugar Gashimov and Fransisco Vallejo Pons.

The event of Linares is one of the tournaments of Grand Slam.

You can follow the games of the Linares tournament on our website from February 12 to 25, 2010. Online
 

Traditional Moscow Open, which is being held with several groups, is coming near its end.

GM Artur Gabrielian (Russia) has scored 4,5 points in tournament A after the 7 rounds that have passed. GM Krishnan Sashikiran (India) is leading with 6 points.

David Shahinyan (Armenia) is playing excellently in the B tournament. He is the sole leader with the 100 % result of 7 points. Tigran Simonian (Armenia) is sharing the 2nd place with 6 points.

WGM Lilit Galojan (Armenia) and WIM Karine Ambartsumova (Russia) have scored 5 points each in the C, women's tournament. They are one point behind the leader, WGM Elizabeth Paehtz (Germany).

Armenian GM Igor Zaitsev (Russia) has scored 5,5 points in the D tournament, which is seniors' tournament. He is only half a point behind the leader GM Vitaly Tseshkovsky (Russia).
 

GM Sergei Movsesian (Slovakia) scored 7,5 points out of 10 in the open which was held in Gibraltar. He shared the 1st-7th places with GMs Jan Gustaffson (Germany), Michael Adams (England), Fransisco Vallejo Pons (Spain), Chanda Sandipan (India), Gata Kamsky (USA) and Etienne Bacrot (France).

According to the regulations, the four chess players which had better indices (Gustaffson, Adams, Vallejo Pons and Sandipan) had additional matches as a result of which Adams received the main prize.
 

22 Armenian chess players taking part in the Aeroflot-Open chess festival to be held from February 9 to 17 in Moscow, Russia.

GMs Gabriel Sargissian, Arman Pashikian, Zaven Andriasian, Hrant Melkumyan (Armenia), Sergey Grigoriants (Russia), Yuriy Ajrapetjan (Ukraine) are taking part in the main, the A1 tournament.

GMs Tigran Kotanjian, Davit G. Petrosian (Armenia), Melikset Khachiyan (USA), Artur Gabrielian and FM Pogos Nakhapetiane (Russia) are among the participants of the A2 tournament.

You can follow the games of the Aeroflot Open on our website from February 9 to 17, 2010 starting at 16:00 (Yerevan time). Online
 

Armenian GM Sergei Movsesian won the game with Stelios Halkias (Greece) in the last but one round of the open which is being held in Gibraltar. Movsesian is currently sharing the first place with GMs Fransisco Vallejo Pons (Spain), Michael Adams (England) and Jan Gustaffson (Germany) with 7 points out of 9.

The question of the first prize-holder will be decided in the Gustaffson-Movsesian and Vallejo Pons-Adams games of the last round.
 

Armenian GM Sergei Movsesian (Slovakia) has scored 6 points after the eight rounds of the big open which is being held in Gibraltar and is currently sharing the 2nd place with a group of participants. Movsesian is only half a point behind the sole leader, GM Jan Gustafsson (Germany).

Two rounds are left before the end of the tournament
 

A lot of Armenian chess players are going to take part in the European Individual Championships which are going to be held in Rijeka, Croatia from March 5 to 19, 2010. The list is as follows:

Men - Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian, Arman Pashikian, Avetik Grigoryan, Tigran L. Petrosian, Zaven Andriasian, Artashes Minasian, Robert Hovhannisyan, Hrant Melkumyan, Samvel Ter-Sahakyan, Davit G. Petrosian, Vahe Baghdasaryan.

Women - Elina Danielian, Lilit Mkrtchian, Lilit Galojan, Nelly Aginian, Anahit Kharatyan.
 

All the members of Armenian Chess Olympic teams were determined after the end of Armenian Championships.

Men - Levon Aronian, Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian, Arman Pashikian, Avetik Grigoryan

Women - Elina Danielian, Lilit Mkrtchian, Lilit Galojan, Nelly Aginian, Anahit Kharatyan