Varuzhan Akobian
{{short description|Armenian-American chess grandmaster (born 1983)|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{distinguish|Vladimir Akopian}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox chess player
| name = Varuzhan Akobian
| image = VaruzhanAkobian23.jpg
| caption = Akobian in 2023
| country = Armenia (until 2002)
United States (since 2002)
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1983|11|19}}
| birth_place = Yerevan, Armenian SSR, Soviet Union
| title = Grandmaster (2004)
| peakrating = 2673 (June 2017)
| peakranking = No. 76 (June 2017)
| FideID = 13300580
}}
Varuzhan Akobian ({{langx|hy|Վարուժան Հակոբյան}}, born 19 November 1983 in Yerevan, Soviet Union) is an Armenian-born American chess Grandmaster. Originally from Armenia, he now resides in St. Louis. He played on the bronze medal-winning U.S. team in the 2006 and 2008 Chess Olympiads.{{Chessgames player|51148}}
Chess career
Akobian, an Armenian American, became an International Master at age 16. In 2001, he moved to the United States and one week after his 20th birthday in November 2003, earned the title of Grandmaster.
He won the World Open tournament in Philadelphia on three separate occasions; he shared first place in 2002 and won it outright in 2004 and 2007. In 2006 he tied for first in the San Marino tournament with a performance rating of 2796.[https://theweekinchess.com/html/twic606.html#4 THE WEEK IN CHESS 606 19 June 2006] In 2007 he tied for 1st–8th with Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Shabalov, Darmen Sadvakasov, Zviad Izoria, Victor Mikhalevski, Magesh Chandran Panchanathan and Justin Sarkar in the Miami Open{{cite web |url=https://theweekinchess.com/html/twic673.html#9 |title=TWIC 673: Miami Chess Open |last=Crowther |first=Mark |date=2007-10-01 |publisher=London Chess Center |access-date=21 May 2010}} and came equal first in the American Continental Championship in Cali, Colombia.[https://theweekinchess.com/html/twic663.html THE WEEK IN CHESS 663 23 July 2007] This qualified him for the Chess World Cup 2007, where he was eliminated in the first round. He also took part in the Chess World Cup 2009 and was knocked out by Ruslan Ponomariov in the second round.{{cite web |url=http://www.chess.co.uk/twic/chessnews/events/world-cup-2009 |title=The Week in Chess: FIDE World Cup Mini-Site 2009 |last=Crowther |first=Mark |date=2009-12-15 |publisher=Chess.co.uk |access-date=16 December 2011 |archive-date=20 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111020184547/http://www.chess.co.uk/twic/chessnews/events/world-cup-2009 |url-status=dead }}
In 2007, Akobian was featured on MTV's True Life documentary series, in an episode titled "I'm a Genius".[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1044908/ "True Life" I'm a Genius (2007)], IMDb {{unreliable source?|date=August 2020}}
In May 2014, he was the fifth highest-rated player in the US, with a FIDE rating of 2643.{{cite web|url=https://ratings.fide.com/download.phtml?period=2014-05-01|title=May 2014: Standard rating|website=FIDE}} In that month, while playing the U.S. Chess Championship at Saint Louis he tied for first with Gata Kamsky and Aleksandr Lenderman, going to a three players playoff to decide who would become champion. In an Armageddon Game he defeated Lenderman and went on to a Rapid Match against Kamsky that ended 1.5 for Kamsky to 0.5 to Akobian, granting Kamsky the title and making Akobian the runner-up in the 2014 U.S. Chess Championship.[http://www.uschesschamps.com U.S. Chess Championship Official Site]
Akobian currently serves as assistant coach for the Saint Louis University chess team.{{cite web |title=SLU Chess Team Player Profiles |url=https://www.slu.edu/life-at-slu/chess-team/about-the-team.php |publisher=Saint Louis University |access-date=12 January 2022}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- {{Official website|http://www.akobian.com}}
- {{FIDE}}
- {{USCF}}
- {{Chessgames player|51148}}
- [http://www.redhotpawn.com/chess/grandmaster-games/index.php?player=Varuzhan_Akobian&masterplayerid=1176 Grandmaster Games Database - Varuzhan Akobian] at redhotpawn.com
{{Armenian GMs}}
{{American chess grandmasters}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akobian, Varuzhan}}
Category:Armenian chess players
Category:American chess players
Category:Chess Olympiad competitors
Category:Armenian emigrants to the United States