President partakes in events devoted to Tigran Petrosian’s 86th birthday

RA President Serzh Sargsyan, the President of the Chess Federation of Armenia, today visited Tigran Petrosian Chess House to take part in the events devoted to the 86th birthday of 9th World Chess Champion Tigran Petrosian. The Armenian president paid tribute to the memory of the well-known Armenian chess player by laying flowers at the bust of Tigran Petrosian, after which he watched the Veteran Rapid Chess Championship at the first floor of the chess house followed by the Youth Rapid Chess Championship.

During the event, some films were featured devoted to the 86th anniversary of Tigran Petrosian and the winners of the White Rook School Chess Tournament, the chess team of School N55 after A.P. Chekhov, which was held from 1 to 9 June this year in the Russian resort center of Dagomys. The RA president handed over valuable gifts to the young winners of the White Rook tournament, Arthur Davtyan, Davit Mirzoyan, Samvel Khachatryan and Arpine Grigoryan, and prize money to team coach Samvel Misakyan.

Serzh Sargsyan congratulated the young chess players on the occasion of Tigran Petrosian’s birthday and their victory, wishing the school alumni further success. In his speech, the president stressed Tigran Petrosian’s major contribution to the popularization of chess in Armenia and to the success of our present-day Olympic champions and the Armenian prize-winners of various previous international chess tournaments. “Dear children, indeed, I would like to both congratulate and thank you. Most probably, this is the first serious success in your life, and, indeed, you should treat this success with great respect and care, because first of all, you have made all our citizens and all Armenians happy with that and secondly, because you have made your parents happy who have tried their best to see you winning the White Rook tournament today. You should be very careful with your teachers and coaches, because you would not have succeeded without their hard work. You should always be proud and consider that you have truly embarked on the difficult, but honorable path to your bright future,” said President Serzh Sargsyan and underscored that he is sure in order to achieve success in chess, one should first of all be, along a number of important characteristics, honest and fair. The president reminded the participants of what Smbat Lputian, one of Armenia’s best chess players, said last year on this occasion: “Chess is a game which teaches us to win fairly and lose fairly.”

Underscoring that Armenia has held school Olympiads - the Armenian version of the White Rook - for already nine years, the president expressed his satisfaction with the fact that because of a big number of participants, it was decided this year to held contests between two age groups, as a result of which the format has been altered, and teams have begun to take part on the 2+1 basis. “As the White Rook is held on the 3+1 basis, that is three boys, one girl, we were given the chance to fill up the team with strong chess players. And I am grateful to the coach, to the school director and to our federation for the correct decision to fill up the team with the pupil of that very same school. I am grateful to you, dear children, School Director Mrs. Sarukhanyan, because this step also proved right our decision to introduce chess to schools,” said the president.

Addressing the young chess players, Serzh Sargsyan emphasized that they are not required to become adult world chess champions in the future and cup-holders. They are required to be good Armenians, good citizens of the Republic of Armenia, concurrently being confident in their chess strength and skills, because chess teaches a lot of things.

The president wished the young winners to make the most of the computers presented by him and the Yerevan mayor to discover multiple nuances of that beautiful and wonderful game.

First Vice President of the Chess Federation of Armenia, grandmaster Smbat Lputian, presented to the attendees the effectiveness of chess as a school subject after it has been introduced to Armenia’s education system, the positive impact of chess on child logic as a school subject in terms of quick response, flexibly, the development of mind and other characteristics.
At the chess house, Serzh Sargsyan attended the presentation of the book titled “The Way We Became a Superpower” devoted to Tigran Petrosian. In the book, the authors Gagik Minasyan and Rafayel Chatinyan present the history of chess development in Armenia, analyses of numerous beautiful chess matches played by Armenian chess players, as well as interviews with the best Armenian chess players of all times. They presented Armenian president with one book copy.

At the end of the events, RA President Serzh Sargsyan, the President of the Chess Federation of Armenia, also had a meeting with the leadership of the chess federation.