Men’s national chess team of Armenia achieved its first success at the 30th Chess Olympiad that took place in Manila, the Philippines, 1992. That year our team that included grandmasters Rafael Vahanyan, Vladimir Hakobyan, Smbat Lputyan, Artashes Minasyan, Arshak Petrosyan and Ashot Anastasyan won the bronze medal for the first time in our history, losing only to the teams of Russia and Uzbekistan.
Ten years after, in 2002, that achievement was repeated by Vladimir Hakobyan, Smbat Lputyan, Karen Asryan, Gabriel Sargsyan, Artashes Minasyan and Ashot Anastasyan during the 35th Chess Olympiad. During the next – 36th – Olympiad in Calvià, Spain, 2004, Vladimir
Hakobyan, Levon Aronyan, Rafael Vahanyan, Smbat Lputyan, Gabriel Sargsyan and Artashes Minasyan won the third place for the third time.
After that, our guys’ team was the strongest Olympic team in the world for four years in a row – Chess Olympiads are organized once in two years. Levon Aronyan, Vladimir Hakobyan, Gabriel Sargsyan, Tigran L. Petrosyan and Artashes Minasyan became champions at the 37th Chess Olympiad in Torino, 2006, surpassing China and the US, and in Dresden, the same players defended the title, surpassing Israel and the US.
At the previous Olympiad that took place in Khanty-Mansiysk, our guys won the modest seventh place.
Ashot HAKOBYAN
