GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan and WGM Maria Gevorgyan are the new champions of Armenia, winning their second and fifth (!) national titles, respectively.

The 83rd Armenian Championship and the 78th Women’s Armenian Сhampionship were held simultaneously in the Tigran Petrosian Chess House in Yerevan from January 13-21. Both events were 10-player round robins with classical time control.

As expected, the open championship (a part of the FIDE Circuit) was a very close contest that came down to the wire. Although Manuel Petrosyan led for the most part of the event Samvel Ter-Sahakayn caught up with him, heading into the decisive final round. Both leaders played with the white pieces, but only Samvel pulled off a victory over Robert Hovhannisyan, while Manuel managed only a draw vs Zaven Andriasian.

As a result, Ter-Sahakyan (pictured below) leapfrogged his main rival by a half-point and clinched the title. Petrosyan finished second; Robert Hovhannisyan tied for third place with Tigran Harutyunyan but took bronze thanks to a better Sonneborn-Berger.

Final standings:

The top six finishers of the 83rd Armenian Сhampionship earned FIDE Circuit race points:

1. 7,40 
 2. 5,92
 3. 5,0
 4. 4,63
 5. 2,78
 6. 0,93

In the women’s event, the rating favourite WGM Maria Gevorgyan (pictured below) suffered an unexpected defeat at the hands of Polina Kobak in Round 2. It was a wake-up call for Maria, who scored three straight victories (including one over her main competitor, second-rated WIM Susanna Gaboyan), grabbed the lead and held it to the very end.

Gaboyan finished a half-point behind the champion and earned silver; Arpine Grigoryan came clear third.

Final standings:

Official webpage: chessfed.am/

Photo: Armenian Chess Federation Facebook page