Armat Posted January 20, 2004 Report Share Posted January 20, 2004 I feel proud!Our very own Vlad Akopian beat the present world champ Kramnik The Guardian (London) January 17, 2004 Chess Seven years ago Garry Kasparov famously disparaged most of the Fide world championship quarter-finalists in Las Vegas as "tourists". Revenge is best as a cold dish and five years later Vlad Akopian, the losing Vegas finalist, beat Kasparov in the Russia v World match. This week the Armenian completed the double by beating Vlad Kramnik, Kasparov's successor as "classical" world champion, in the opening round at Corus Wijk aan Zee. Kramnik was caught cold at the start, employing the complex Najdorf variation which is not a part of his normal repertoire. Akopian used what has become a quite frequent ploy in top GM chess, keeping his king in the centre until move 24. It meant he could launch his own attack while keeping his opponent unsure of where to organise counterplay. It is a high-risk strategy not recommended for your next club night but it worked in style as Akopian finished with an elegant rook sacrifice. Kramnik recovered in the next few rounds, helped by the world No4 Peter Svidler who resigned a drawn bishops of opposite colours ending. As play starts today there is a five-way tie for the lead, including Kramnik, his official challenger Peter Leko from Hungary, the world No3 Vishy Anand and Britain's Michael Adams. Wijk is actually staging three grandmaster tournaments at the same time, with much interest in the C group which includes Ukraine's Kateryna Lahno, 14, and Norway's Magnus Carlsen, 13. Carlsen, the silver medallist at the 2002 world under-12 championship where England's David Howell won bronze, is a young player to watch. A year ago Corus Wijk aan Zee looked in danger because of the split between the steel giant's UK and Dutch managements. Pointedly English players were excluded from the 2003 GM event. But now it has been announced that the Dutch arm of Corus, supported by the provincial government of North Holland, has guaranteed that Wijk will continue until at least 2010. This fine event is very much needed. What used to be a year-long chess circuit has shrunk to a winter mini-version with Wijk and Spain's Linares as the central planks. V Akopian v V Kramnik 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Be3 Ng4 7 Bg5 h6 8 Bh4 g5 9 Bg3 Bg7 10 h3 Ne5 11 f3 Nbc6 12 Bf2 Be6 13 Qd2 Nxd4 14 Bxd4 Qa5 15 a3 O-O 16 h4 Ng6 17 hxg5 hxg5 18 b4 Qc7 19 Ne2 f6 20 Bb2 Bf7 21 Nd4 d5 22 exd5 Qe5+ 23 Be2 Qxd5 24 O-O-O Rfc8 25 Bd3 Ne5 26 Be4 Qa2 27 Nf5 Nc4 28 Qc3 Rc7 29 Rh7! Qxb2+ 30 Qxb2 Nxb2 31 Rxg7+ Kf8 32 Rh1! 1-0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gurgen Posted January 20, 2004 Report Share Posted January 20, 2004 I know this guy. I met him in 1996. Glad to see he's still going strong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armat Posted February 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2004 (edited) I had a long day. My son's second participation in New England Chess Championship(He was the 2002 champ). He did really well. Arvan took the second place after a lose to a player much older and much higher rating. Overall my kid came out Top three out of two hundred kids. The intensity of the competition was overwhelming .Arvan beat many Rubenstains and Xu Choo's. I will celebrate this one with choc cake! with him of course Edited February 22, 2004 by Armat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angel4hope Posted February 22, 2004 Report Share Posted February 22, 2004 wow armat jan, congradulations... It is a very joyous event for you, i believe...im sure you have many a reason to be proud! Its just great to see that he has great parents, from what i can see, wow, im just happy to see positive accomplishments in young armenians...like your son, and how old is he again? i bet hes accomplished more than i have at the age of 18/19. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armat Posted February 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2004 Thanks Angel jan,He is eight now and I tought him the game at the age of two and he was just natural at it.His room is full of trophys over twenty.He loves chess and I do whatever I can to help him.He has a Jewish grand master for a teacher and you should see his joy when Arvan beats other jewish kids(over %50 of kids) I have now tough time beating him.We'll see how the future unfolds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armat Posted March 11, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2004 (edited) There is a nice chess tournment taking place in Artsagh right now. go here and you can go over games played by these GM move by move aided by computer.Really neat. http://www.Artsax2004.com/index.jsp?id=24 Edited March 11, 2004 by Armat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vava Posted March 11, 2004 Report Share Posted March 11, 2004 Congratulations to Arvan! Bravo Bravo Bravo! I know the future holds many successes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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