Chess in Armenia
# Player Birth year GM Title Rating World rank
1 Levon Aronian 1982 2000 2780 6
2 Gabriel Sargissian 1983 2002 2691 50
3 Hrant Melkumyan 1989 2008 2660 86
4 Vladimir Akopian 1971 1991 2650 101
5 Sergei Movsesian 1978 1997 2645 113
6 Robert Hovhannisyan 1991 2010 2621 166
7 Zaven Andriasian 1989 2006 2603 217
8 Arman Pashikian 1987 2007 2599 230
9 Tigran L. Petrosian 1984 2004 2598 232
10 Haik M. Martirosyan 2000 2017 2597 240
Individual statistics -- Men
The Top 10 Armenian grandmasters as of September 2018 are listed below . [ 64 ] See also : List of Armenian chess players .mw-parser-output .tmulti .thumbinner { display : flex ; flex-direction : column } .mw-parser-output .tmulti .trow { display : flex ; flex-direction : row ; clear : left ; flex-wrap : wrap ; width:100% ; box-sizing : border-box } .mw-parser-output .tmulti .tsingle { margin:1px ; float : left } .mw-parser-output .tmulti .theader { clear : both ; font-weight : bold ; text-align : center ; align-self : center ; background-color : transparent ; width:100% } .mw-parser-output .tmulti .thumbcaption { text-align : left ; background-color : transparent } .mw-parser-output .tmulti .thumbcaption-center { text-align : center ; background-color : transparent } .mw-parser-output .tmulti .text-align-left { text-align : left } .mw-parser-output .tmulti .text-align-right { text-align : right } .mw-parser-output .tmulti .text-align-center { text-align : center } @ media all and ( max-width:720px ) { .mw-parser-output .tmulti .thumbinner { width:100% ! important ; box-sizing : border-box ; max-width : none ! important ; align-items : center } .mw-parser-output .tmulti .trow { justify-content : center } .mw-parser-output .tmulti .tsingle { float : none ! important ; max-width:100% ! important ; box-sizing : border-box ; text-align : center } .mw-parser-output .tmulti .thumbcaption { text-align : center } } Armenian players in FIDE Top 115Levon Aronian ( # 6 ) Sergei Movsesian ( # 113 ) Vladimir Akopian ( # 101 ) Gabriel Sargissian ( # 50 )
Chess has been played in Armenia since the early Middle Ages; however, it was institutionalized during the early Soviet period. Highly popular in Armenia today, chess gained widespread recognition during the 1960s, when Soviet Armenian grandmaster Tigran Petrosian became the World Chess Champion. A country of about three million people, Armenia is considered one of the strongest chess nations today. Among countries, Armenia has one of the most chess grandmasters per capita. Since the country's independence, the Armenian men's chess team has won the European Team Championship (1999), the World Team Championship (2011) and the Chess Olympiad (2006, 2008, 2012). The women's team had its crowning victory at the 2003 European Championship. As of December 2019, Armenia ranks sixth in the world by the average rating of its top players. Levon Aronian, Armenia's best chess player, has placed as high as world No. 2 in the FIDE rankings, and has been a World Champion candidate on six occasions. Since the 2011-12 school year, chess lessons have been made part of the curriculum in every public school in Armenia, making it the first country in the world to make chess mandatory in schools.