GOOD NEWS

[Yervant1]

VARUJAN HAKOBYAN IS CHESS CHAMPION OF AMERICAN CONTINENT

 

18:18, 30 January, 2013

 

YEREVAN, JANUARY 30, ARMENPRESS: Varujan Hakobyan has been announced

chess champion of American continent. As Armenpress was informed,

being in USA team, grandmaster Varujan Hakobyan became champion during

9th pan American team chess championship held in Brazil. Hakobyan

was playing on the second board. 28 chess players participated in

the championship.

[Yervant1]

Good news more Armenians!!!!!!!!!!!

ARMENIA WOMAN GIVES BIRTH TO TRIPLETS

 

NEWS.AM

February 07, 2013 | 17:53

 

YEREVAN.- An Armenia women gave a birth to triplets in capital Yerevan

on Wednesday morning.

 

Doctor from Erebuni medical center Davit Abovyan confirmed reports

for Armenian News-NEWS.am.

 

Mother gave birth to three boys after IFV. Parents named three boys

Hovhannes, Alex and Edmond. Their mother will be discharged from

hospital in several days.

 

 

[Yervant1]

Armenian Genocide to be possibly included in Australian school curriculum

 

18:58, 7 March, 2013

 

YEREVAN, MARCH 7, ARMENPRESS: Australia has launched a campaign in

order to include the topic of Genocide committed against Armenians,

Greeks and Assyrians in times of Ottoman Empire in the Australian

school curriculum. The campaign follows the decision of the country's

education council, according to which from 2014 Holocaust will be

included in 10th grade's educational programs, Armenpress reports

referring to dunyabulteni.net.

 

It has been also noted that calls of Armenian, Greek and Assyrian

organization in Austria have caused the Turkish reaction.

 

Turkish organizations, which are against the campaign, have published

statement in the internet, noting that some circles want to present

`controversial historical events' as Genocide.

[Yervant1]

Armenian girl named 2013 Miss Massachusetts Outstanding Teen

 

February 20, 15:33

http://style.news.am/static/news/b/2013/02/3090.jpg

A 15-year-old girl with Armenian roots was announced the winner of the 2013 Miss Massachusetts Outstanding Teen pageant.

Kristina Ayanian, sophomore at Burlington High School, was named Miss Massachusetts Outstanding Teen 2013, Wicked Local reported. Ten contestants competed for the title.

She will have the opportunity to compete in the Miss America’s Outstanding Teen pageant to be held in August in Orlando, Fla. She will receive a $2,000 scholarship and various awards and gifts from pageant sponsors

 

 

NEWS.am STYLE

[Yervant1]

http://www.armenianweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/logo11.png

Mekhitarian Wins Brazil’s Chess Championship

 

Posted by Weekly Staff on March 8, 2013 in News

SAO PAULO, Brazil (A.W.)—Grandmaster Krikor Sevag Mekhitarian won Brazil’s chess championship, held from Feb. 25-March. 6 here in São Paulo.

http://www.armenianweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Mekhitarian-200x300.jpg

http://www.armenianweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Mekhitarian-200x300.jpg

 

 

Krikor Sevag Mekhitarian

Mekhitarian secured the title with seven wins, three draws, and one loss, finishing the championship with 8.5/11 points.

A Brazilian Armenian, Mekhitarian scored a draw followed by a defeat in the first two rounds of the championship, only to pick himself up and not lose a single match in the following nine rounds.

International Master Barbosa Evandro Amorim and Mendonça Mateus Nakajo both secured eight points and came second and third respectively.

Mekhitarian was born in São Paulo in 1986. He learned playing chess from his father at the age of six. He won Brazil’s junior (U20) championship twice, in 2003 and 2004. He became a Grandmaster—the highest title in chess—in 2010.

[MosJan]

State Department: Armenia not a major drug-producing country

 

http://media.pn.am/media/issue/149/111/photo/149111.jpg

March 9, 2013 - 18:48 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia is not a major drug-producing country, and domestic abuse of drugs is modest, Department of State’s 2013 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR).

“Because Armenia is landlocked and the two longest of its four borders (with Turkey and Azerbaijan) are closed, the resulting limited transport options make the country less attractive for drug trafficking. With assistance from the United States and European Union, Armenia continues to develop and implement an integrated border management regime, improving its ability to detect illegal narcotics shipments. In addition, in July 2012, the United States provided narcotics interdiction training at Yerevan’s international airport and bus station.

The most common illicit drug in Armenia is marijuana, most of which is grown locally. Both marijuana and poppies grow in the wild, and the government sponsors an annual eradication event in August. In 2012, a combined total of nearly 82 metric tons were destroyed.

Narcotics seizures declined overall in 2012. Police credit the arrest and dismantlement of several trafficking rings in late 2011 and early 2012 as the reason for the decrease. According to police, the overwhelming majority of illicit drug imports are opiates originating from Afghanistan transiting through Iran, with a smaller volume entering from Turkey via Georgia (as the Turkish border is closed to all traffic). In October, a large seizure occurred on the Iranian border at the Meghri crossing, when opium was discovered in a false-bottomed suitcase.

A new smuggling trend along the Iranian border involves plastic balls with light-emitting diodes attached: the balls are thrown across the Arax River at night, with opiates going one way (into Armenia) and payment going the other (into Iran). In addition, authorities have seized smaller quantities of the synthetic opioid buprenorphine from flights originating in France and from parcels mailed from France and Spain. In the past, amphetamines were trafficked from Iran to Europe via Armenia, but this transit appears to have diminished significantly following a major bust. Precursor chemicals are strictly regulated and industrial users must provide status reports every three months,” the report reads.

[Yervant1]

Rima Makaryan is student of the month

 

The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California)

Thursday, March 14, 2013

 

by Extra.Credit

 

Rima Makaryan of Santa Rosa French-American Charter School is Santa

Rosa City Schools student of the month for March.

 

The fifth grader was born in Armenia and her family immigrated to

California in 2010 and Makaryan enrolled at Doyle Park Elementary

School as a third grader.

 

Makaryan speaks Armenian fluently and speaks Russian as well. When the

French language school opened on the former Doyle Park campus,

Makaryan enrolled and began learning French as well.

 

An accomplished artist, Makaryan loves to paint and has had her

artwork published in Kid Scoop. She loves to play basketball and hopes

to play competitively next year. She also enjoys hip hop dancing and

riding her bike around Spring Lake with her dad and younger brother,

Arno.

 

School officials describe Makaryan as a conscientious student who

exhibits enthusiasm and is a great role model for her peers.

[Yervant1]

Armenian musician is selected People’s Choice in Eric Clapton contest

 

March 15, 15:46

http://style.news.am/static/news/b/2013/03/3622.jpg

YEREVAN. – Armenian guitarist and singer Suren Arustamyan was selected finalist and People’s Choice, as a result of the online voting in the contest hat was announced by world-renowned English guitarist and singer-songwriter, Eric Clapton. Arustamyan informed this in his Facebook account.

The competing guitarists, who took part the contest from numerous countries, had performed their renditions of Clapton’s song entitled “Cocaine.”

 

NEWS.am STYLE

Edited March 15, 2013 by Yervant1

[Yervant1]

ARMENIAN DUDUK PRESENTED AT UNESCO HEADQUARTERS

 

http://news.am/eng/news/145155.html

March 19, 2013 | 18:32

 

Armenia, Lithuania and Bulgaria presented their culture during the

event organized at UNESCO Headquarters to celebrate International

Francophonie Day and the tenth anniversary of the UNESCO Convention

for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Armenia was

represented by duduk player Levon Minasyan.

 

"Musicians and dancers performed masterpieces of the Armenian Duduk,

the Bulgarian Bistritsa Babi and the Lithuanian SutartinÄ-s, all of

which are inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible

Cultural Heritage, reflecting the wealth of these cultures, their

common influences and their interactions, handed down from generation

to generation, forging close ties between peoples throughout history,"

UNESCO said in a statement.

 

Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova and Armenian Ambassador to

France Vigen Chitechyan, heads of the international organizations

and diplomatic representations attended the concert held at UNESCO

Headquarters in Paris.

[Yervant1]

DAVIT SAFARYAN BECAME CHAMPION OF EUROPE. 2:0 WIN SCORED OVER TURKISH WRESTLER

 

20:09, 19 March, 2013

 

YEREVAN, MARCH 19, ARMENPRESS: Wrestler of Armenia National Wrestling

Team of 66kg Davit Safaryan became Champion of Europe. As reports

Armenpress, in the final of European Freestyle Wrestling Championship

held in Tbilisi, Davit Safaryan scored 2:0 win over Turkish wrestler

Gor Yakup.

 

Aleksandr Kontoev and Ilya Bekbulatov accordingly from Belarus and

Russia got bronze medals in this weight category.

 

This is the first medal of Armenia in European Freestyle Wrestling

Championship.

[Yervant1]

ARMENIAN BOXERS WON SILVER AND BRONZE MEDALS IN CZECH INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT

 

11:53, 20 March, 2013

 

YEREVAN, MARCH 20, ARMENPRESS : Armenian boxers participated in

International Tournament Type "A" hosted in Czech Republic, Ústí nad

Labem administrative unit and have gained one silver and two bronze

medals. As Ministry of Sport ant Youth Affairs told Armenpress, 17

countries were participating in the tournament, namely Russia, China,

Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Armenian team composed of 5 sportsmen. Armen

Simonyan, +91 weight category was awarded with silver medal, Narek

Abgaryan, 52 weight category, and Ara Puluzyan, 64 weight category,

became bronze medal winners.

[Yervant1]

LAKE SEVAN MAY BE INCLUDED IN UNESCO WORLD NATURE HERITAGE LIST

 

ARMINFO

Friday, March 22, 17:31

 

Armenian high altitude Lake Sevan may be included in the UNESCO World

Nature Heritage List, Terra Viva environmental movement reports.

 

On March 29 the environmentalists and members of Terra Viva headed by

Nikolay Drozdov will visit Yerevan to conduct an international

environmental telethone with participation of the profile ministries

and departments of Armenia and representatives of business strictures,

scientists and journalists. As part of the telethone, international

environmentalists will submit an initiative on inclusion of the unique

Lake Sevan, one of the biggest high altitude lakes in the world, in

the UNESCO World Nature Heritage List.

 

Lake Sevan is situated in the central part of the Republic of Armenia,

inside the Gegharkunik Province, at the altitude of 1,900m above sea

level. It yields only to Lake Titikan.

[Yervant1]

http://armenianow.com/sites/all/themes/armenianow/images/logo.gif

Wrestling | 24.03.13 | 11:20

Wrestling: Armenian athlete defends European title

 

http://armenianow.com/sites/default/files/img/imagecache/600x400/arthur-aleksyanian-wrestling-georgia-europe-championship.jpg

 

Armenian Greco-Roman wrestler Artur Alexanyan has retained his title at the 2013 European Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia.

 

 

In the final round the Armenian athlete beat Bulgaria’s Vladislav Metodiev to become a double European champion.

 

Alexanyan first won European gold at competitions in Serbia last year.

 

On the way to his new success the Armenian, who performs in the 96-kg weight division, beat rivals from Sweden, Georgia, Turkey and Azerbaijan.

 

Earlier, another Armenian athlete, David Safaryan (66 kg), became a European freestyle wrestling champion at the competitions in Georgia defeating a competitor from Turkey in the final. And Musa Murtazaliyev (84 kg), also representing Armenia, won a silver medal.

[Yervant1]

Chess mania captures Armenia's attention

 

 

Small Caucasus country is the first in the world to make chess mandatory in schools, aiming to build a better society.

Gayatri Parameswaran and Felix Gaedtke Last Modified: 24 Mar 2013 08:38

 

 

http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/Images/2013/3/17/20133179367599580_20.jpg

Susie Hunanyan, 7, takes on a chess opponent in class in Armenia's capital Yerevan [Felix Gaedtke/Al Jazeera]

Yerevan, Armenia - Little Susie Hunanyan attended her favourite class in school last week, and it wasn't drawing, crafts or sport. The seven-year-old sat studiously through an hour of chess lessons.

In Armenia, learning to play the grand game of strategy in school is mandatory for children - the only country in the world that makes chess compulsory - and the initiative has paid dividends. Armenia, a Caucasus country with a population of just three million, is a chess powerhouse.

Susie listened attentively as her teacher explained chess moves on a large board in front of the class at the Yeghishe Charents Basic School in the capital, Yerevan.

"I like chess lessons a lot. They always pass by smoothly," she said, setting up pieces sequentially on her board.

Armenia has produced more than 30 grandmasters and won the team chess Olympiads in 2006, 2008 and 2012. Armenian champion Levon Aronian is currently the third-best player in the world, according to the World Chess Federation rankings.

"My grandpa taught me how to play chess. But now that I learn chess in school, I am better at it than he is."

- Susie Hunanyan, 7, chess student

In 2011, Armenia made chess compulsory for second, third and fourth-graders. That's why Susie and her classmates have two hours of chess every week in school.

"My grandpa taught me how to play chess. But now that I learn chess in school, I am better at it than he is," Susie said, adding when she grows up, she'd like to become a chess champion like her idol, Levon Aronian.

For an hour, the students playfully engaged in one-on-one matches against each other.

"Chess is having a good influence on their performance in other subjects too. The kids are learning how to think, it's making them more confident," said teacher Rosanna Putanyan, watching her pupils play from the periphery.

Education project

The chess initiative is not only meant to scout young talent but also build a better society. Armen Ashotyan, Armenia's education minister, told Al Jazeera the project is aimed at fostering creative thinking.

"Chess develops various skills - leadership capacities, decision-making, strategic planning, logical thinking and responsibility," Ashotyan said. "We are building these traits in our youngsters. The future of the world depends on such creative leaders who have the capacity to make the right decisions, as well as the character to take responsibility for wrong decisions."

More than $3m has been spent on the project so far to supply chess equipment and learning aids in all Armenian schools, Ashotyan added. The majority of the budget was allocated to train chess players to become good teachers. In coming years, spending on chess is expected to rise, he said. http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/218/330/mritems/Images/2013/3/17/201331795256322734_20.jpg Education Minister Armen Ashotyan [Felix Gaedtke/Al Jazeera]

The initiative is also attracting attention from other countries. Later this year, chess will be integrated into the national curriculum of Hungary's elementary schools. Countries such as Moldova, Ukraine and Spain are showing interest in running similar projects.

In Britain, the United States, Switzerland, India, Russia and Cuba schools have long offered chess as a subject, though no nationwide legislation making it compulsory exists.

Developing mental capacities

A team of Armenian psychologists headed by Ruben Aghuzumstyan has been researching the impact of chess on young minds since last year.

Aghuzumstyan said preliminary results show that children who play chess score better in certain personality traits such as individuality, creative thinking, reflexes and comparative analysis.

"During the first few years of school, children are equipped to learn with games. So for kids who are seven, eight and nine, learning is better through games, and chess is an optimised game which develops a lot of areas of the brain," Aghuzumstyan said.

The psychologist, who is also a member of the Armenian Chess Federation, said chess improves social skills as well as mental strength.

Chess became more popular in the former Soviet republic in the 1960s. Tigran Petrosian, a former world champion who won many accolades for the Soviet Union, became a household name in the 1970s. Ever since, chess has become a staple sport of the country.

On sunny days, parks in Yerevan are filled with chess enthusiasts capturing pawns and checkmating kings.

Aghuzumustyan explained why chess is so popular in Armenia, a nation with a troubled past. "We have a tough history," he said, referring to the mass killings carried out by the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

"Chess is having a good influence on their performance in other subjects too. The kids are learning how to think, it's making them more confident."

- Rosanna Putanyan, chess teacher

 

"Armenians have always been used to solving problems, because we always had problems. For us it often wasn't a question of living well or not, but a question of living or not. And chess is about solving problems on a board. It's not a coincidence that we, as a country, are so good at chess," Aghuzumustyan said.

Grooming grandmasters

In one of Yerevan's southern suburbs, an extravagant building complex hosts the Chess Academy of Armenia. On a recent rainy afternoon, dozens of young chess players filed into small training rooms to get advanced lessons. The chess players, some as young as four, are being groomed for a professional career, free of cost thanks to the government.

Top-ranked chess players in Armenia win respect and adulation. Massive billboards with photos of the winning Olympiad team of 2012 on Yerevan's streets indicate their star status.

And the government provides top players with handsome salaries and perks: Tigran Petrosian, who was part of the gold-winning 2012 team and shares the same name as the country's champion during the 1970s, drives a swanky Mercedes S-550.

"We don't have to worry about money. That's a good thing. Although we have corporate sponsors for some events, it's mainly the state that supports and helps us out," said Petrosian as he drank juice in a Yerevan café.

The 29-year-old grandmaster said being a chess player in Armenia is a big deal. "I get greeted on the streets when I walk. People chase me home. And I get a lot of fan mail. I am happy to be a chess player in this country."

Yerevan Chess House, located in the heart of Armenia's capital, bears testimony to the country's chess mania. Every day dozens of chess players, young and old, spend hours here battling it out on their boards. Magazines, newspapers, books and DVDs about chess are on sale at the chess house's newsstand.

"Chess 64" is a popular TV show hosted by Gagik Hovhannisian that has been running since 1972. Earlier this year, the government introduced another programme, "Chess World", hosted by 22-year-old Aghasi Inants, to attract youngsters to the sport. http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/218/330/mritems/Images/2013/1/31/2013131235924377734_20.jpg

On a recent afternoon at the Chess House, Inants said the aim of the series is to popularise chess further. "In one show, we had chess lessons for youngsters, chess news, we also have celebrity interviews, as well as a section on chess history," he said.

"One day a mother called me and said that her daughter wasn't willing to do her chess homework until she saw my show … The kid was sure that it would be easier for her to solve her chess homework after she had watched my show," the host recounted proudly.

But not all Armenians are mad about chess. Inants' friend David Khachatryan doesn't play and isn't fond of the game either.

"I will be very happy the day when football here becomes as important as chess," Khachatryan told Al Jazeera. "It would be great to have a football team as good as our chess team."

1533

Source:

Al Jazeera

[MosJan]

it's a good news

[Yervant1]

Why Armenia Is More Likely to Engineer Super-Children Than China

 

 

 

 

 

By Brian Merchant

http://assets2.motherboard.tv/content-images/article/armenia-is-more-likely-to-engineer-super-children-than-china/b172dbbca8543d9a0f6cfc63e96a7dbc_vice_630x420.jpg

Image: Aarondn93 via Flickr

 

Seems like everybody's talking Chinese genomics and the art of engineering genius babies these days. But the nation that's more likely to breed a generation of super-smart, problem-solving kids isn't the global economic giant currently engaging in a complex, sinister-sounding genetics program—it's Armenia, a tiny landlocked nation, pop. 3,000,000, that's still mired in the shadow of a devastating genocide. And it's going to do it with chess.

First, let's look at China's alleged plan. Vice recently ran an uber-popular interview with evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller, who believes that the Beijing Genomics Institute is essentially looking for a way for China to breed more intelligent children. Super babies, if you will. And it's the largest such effort in the world. More specifically, BGI Shenzen has "collected DNA samples from 2,000 of the world’s smartest people and are sequencing their entire genomes in an attempt to identify the alleles which determine human intelligence."

If they're successful in finding them, Miller believes it could pave the way for embryo screenings that would eventually help boost the IQ of children by 5-15 points per generation, in aggregate. But after the article went viral, there was some significant pushback from the scientific community. Many scientists say IQ is too complex, too reliant on the interplay of genes and environmental factors, to "engineer" for, given our current capabilities. Slate's Will Oremus collected quotes from a number of skeptics who shared this view, including Hank Greely, director of Stanford’s Center for Law and the Biosciences.

“I think it’s pretty clear that intelligence—if it even exists as an entity, which remains controversial among psychologists—involves a boatload of genes and genetic combinations, all of them substantially mediated through the environment," Greely told Slate. "The chances that genetic selection is going to lead to really substantial increases in human intelligence in your lifetime are low.”

 

Santiago Munné, who runs Reprogenetics, a private lab that does preimplantation genetic diagnosis—a process where an embryo is screened for disease-causing mutations, and sometimes, for physical characteristics like sex and hair color—doesn't think China can pull it off, either.

“IQ is controlled by probably more than 1,000 genes, so there is no point even trying to control for that,” he told Oremus. Miller nonetheless feels that if you do enough screenings and weed out enough genes related to intelligence, you'll increase the net intelligence slowly but surely.

“ "The chances that genetic selection is going to lead to really substantial increases in human intelligence in your lifetime are low.”

But there's probably a better, less terrifying and Gattaca-reminiscent way to make an entire generation of kids smarter with already extant technology and no hint of scary eugenics: Make playing chess mandatory in school.

Armenia is the only nation in the world where chess is a compulsory part of school curriculum, thanks to a $3 million initiative passed in 2011. Beginning two years ago, chess has been a mandatory in the third and fourth grades—students play chess two hours a week every week for two years. Part of the program's aim is to improve children's logic and reasoning skills. But, as with China's more sci-fi approach, part of the aim is to engineer a generation of smarter, savvier children.

Armenia's education minister Armen Ashotyan recently told Al Jazeera that "Chess develops various skills - leadership capacities, decision-making, strategic planning, logical thinking and responsibility. We are building these traits in our youngsters. The future of the world depends on such creative leaders who have the capacity to make the right decisions, as well as the character to take responsibility for wrong decisions."

And, of course, there is a decent body of scientific evidence that suggests that learning and playing chess can actually raise a child's IQ—no test tubes required. University of Sydney professor (and chess grandmaster) Dr. Peter Dauvergne has long argued that chess has significant educational benefits, and that a raised IQ is chief among them.

He synthesizes the research supporting his claim in a 2000 article, "The Case for Chess as a Tool to Develop Our Children's Minds." Elsewhere, the Kasparov Foundation has compiled compelling arguments that chess improves cognition, boosts intelligence, and enhances problem-solving capabilities in "the Benefits of Chess in Education."

The Armenian psychologist keeping a close eye on the chess program agrees. "Ruben Aghuzumstyan has been researching the impact of chess on young minds since last year," Al Jazeera reports, and he says that "preliminary results show that children who play chess score better in certain personality traits such as individuality, creative thinking, reflexes and comparative analysis."

That is encouraging news, because there's still little consensus around whether chess is actually unique in its educational benefits—whether it's any more effective than more traditional math or logic problems. But there's no doubt that it's an intellectual boon for children. And it's definitely more fun.

Susie Hunanyan, the elementary school student profiled in the piece, looks forward to her routine chess lessons, and even aspires to be a grandmaster. "I like chess lessons a lot," she said. "My grandpa taught me how to play chess. But now that I learn chess in school, I am better at it than he is."

The question is, will she be better than him at everything else, too? It stands to reason. The concerted push to engage the nation's youths may yet beget a generational rise in IQ—which is really fascinating to consider, especially alongside China's sci-fi futuretech. While China may be paving the way for genetically-optimal brainiacs in giant genomics labs, Armenia is modifying its youth's intelligence the old fashioned way—with smart policy and good education. As such, Armenia's actually more likely to boost its youth's IQ than China—using gaming technology that's been around for over a thousand years.

{C}

By Brian Merchant

[Yervant1]

WHY CHESS SHOULD BE REQUIRED IN U.S. SCHOOLS

 

Pacific Standard

April 15 2013

 

It's a game that motivates us to win, but also teaches us how to deal

with defeat.

 

April 15, 2013~U By Alex Berezow ~U

 

Rook to B8. Checkmate.

 

There's nothing quite like the feeling of defeating a worthy opponent

in a game of chess: the ultimate battle of the wits. Of course, it's

not a feeling I have very often, since I'm not very good at chess. On

the other hand, my father is officially an "expert" and my friend is

a "master." In other words, they are both very, very good. To give

an idea of how good, if I was to play 100 games with each of them,

I would win precisely zero.

 

Worldwide, chess is still a popular game, but it is treated with

particular seriousness in Eastern Europe. For instance, the Bulgarian

National Olympic Committee has been lobbying for chess to be recognized

as an Olympic sport, as has Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the Russian president

of the World Chess Federation. In September 2011, Armenia made chess

a required subject for all children over the age of six.

 

(In the DW-TV news clip below, the children are in 2nd grade.)

 

Indeed, the Armenians may be on to something. One recent

psychology study found that chess was associated with greater

"cognitive abilities, coping and problem-solving capacity, and even

socioaffective development of children." Of course, because it was

a cohort (observational) study, the link could be due to some third

factor or the possibility that smart, mature children are more inclined

to play chess in the first place.

 

In the above video, the math/chess teacher says, "Chess trains logical

thinking. It teaches how to make decisions, trains memory, strengthens

will power, motivates children to win, and teaches them how to deal

with defeat. It's the only school subject that can do all of this."

 

That is a very interesting insight. Not only does chess help train the

brain, but it also teaches children basic life skills. In our culture,

we hand out trophies to winners and losers-or neglect to keep score at

all-out of some misguided, politically-correct notion that we should

never hurt anyone's feelings. But, in Armenia, schools are teaching

children reality: Sometimes you lose. That's an important lesson,

and it should be taught at a young age.

 

What makes chess so fascinating is that no two games will ever

play out the same. Checkers-really a game for intellectual wimps

(like me)-has 500 billion billion possible positions, and, in 2007,

researchers reported that a computer has solved the game. (If neither

side makes a mistake, the outcome is always a draw.) But chess is

far more complicated than checkers. It is unlikely that a computer

will ever "solve" the game.

 

Americans are concerned that our children aren't receiving a solid

K-12 education. Perhaps chess should be introduced into the curriculum

as a fun way to teach logic and memory?

 

In fact, I should get back to practicing the game. Knowing that there

are seven-year-old Armenians that could run me off the chessboard

without breaking a sweat is a tad humiliating.

 

http://www.psmag.com/education/why-chess-should-be-required-in-us-schools-55241/

[Yervant1]

16:40 11/05/2013 » Sport

Roudolph Grigorian becomes champion of France

 

 

Armenian chess player Roudolph Grigorian won the title of U18 champion of France. He scored 7.5 points out of 9 to solely take first prize at the championship in Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux.

Another Armenian chess player, Gary Giroyan, fell half a point behind the winner to share 2-4th places among 83 participants. Giroyan was fourth on tie-break, armchess.am reported.

 

Source: Panorama.am

[Yervant1]

09:30 13/05/2013 » Sport

Alik Tikranian becomes champion of Netherlands

 

 

Armenian chess player Alik Tikranian won the title of the U16 champion of Netherlands. He scored 6.5 points out of 9 to solely take first prize at the championship held in Sneek, armchess.am reported.

 

Source: Panorama.am

[Yervant1]

Armenian student named winner of UNESCO contest

 

June 14, 2013 | 17:40

 

 

A representative of Armenia was named the winner of the UNESCO contest

launched by the Director-General of UNESCO on the occasion of the

International Day of Peace in 2012.

 

Mher Ghalumyan, a student of the Yerevan State University, was named a

winner in video clip category for his `My Fairy Tale' video.

 

More than 1,300 young people worldwide between 14 and 25 years of age

participated in this contest. About 400 works were submitted for four

competing categories as follows: essay, photography, video and graphic

arts.

 

 

News from Armenia - NEWS.am

[Sip]

Wow that is certainly very impressive

[Yervant1]

Gohar Tamrazyan becomes champion of Switzerland

 

 

9-year-old Armenian chess player Gohar Tamrazyan won the title of U12 champion of Switzerland. The championship was held in Siebnen. Gohar scored 6 points out of 7. Tamrazyan finished third in U16 group, being just half a point behind the winner, Lena Georgescu, armchess.am reported.

 

Source: Panorama.am

[MosJan]

9 year old

[Yervant1]

Andranik Matikozian becomes champion of Southern California

 

 

IM Andranik Matikozian (Armenia) became the champion of Southern California for the fourth time. He had no defeat, scored 5 points out of 7 and finished first at the championship held in Monterey, U.S.

Melikset Khachiyan (U.S.) took second place. He also had no defeat and was only half a point behind the winner.

Chess players from Russia and Mexico also took part in the tournament, armchess.am reported.

 

Source: Panorama.am

[Yervant1]

Chess: Arsen Davtyan wins European Youth Cup

 

 

Chess player from Armenia Arsen Davtyan scored 8 points out of 9 and became the winner in Boys U8 group at the European Youth Cup held in Ureki, Georgia.

Robert Muradyan took 3rd place in the same group. Shant Sargsyan won silver in Boys U12 group.

Anna Poghosyan took 3rd prize in Girls U8 group, armchess.am reported.

 

 

Source: Panorama.am