Congratulatory remarks by President Serzh Sargsyan at the reception organized in honor of the Armenian Chess Team – three time Olympian Champions

Dear Compatriots,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I once again cordially congratulate the members of the Armenian Chess Team, trainers and our entire nation on winning for the third time the champion title at the World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul.

Very few countries have been able to register success like this one in the history of the Chess Olympiads, and that fact fills our hearts with pride. To be more precise, only teams of the Soviet Union, Russia and Armenia won the Olympiads for three or more times. The Armenian chess players not only raised the Armenian tricolor for three times to the Olympian heights but also reiterated the truth that we can be powerful individuals as well as a united team. They continue to inspire our society with the faith in its own strength and with self-confidence. They prove with their own example that we can achieve a lot, relying upon our intellect and collective consciousness.

Today, we are glorifying our heroes. They serve as an example not only to the young people but for all. In a way, they symbolize our country, the road our country and our people went down in the past and will go down in the future. When we state that humans are the greatest resource for our development, we mean human qualities just like these ones – strong, competitive in the international field, and patriotic. Great results through small means – that’s what we do, and they prove it for the third time, leaving giants to trail behind.

I once again congratulate us all on the occasion of this brilliant victory. This is much more precious for me than just a victory in sports. This victory is a powerful message sent by our chess players to our society and the entire Armenian nation that we are able of accomplishing a lot. This is a message about our strong and, if you will weak points too. This is a message to us all, on how one should work, on what one should do and especially on what one shouldn’t do.

Let’s thank them for the moments of joy and pride that they present to us repeatedly, also for the powerful and vigorous signals that our society receives from them.

Thank you, guys,

Excellent job, I wish you success comparable with your modesty and let the memory of Karen Asrian as your guardian angel, lead you towards new victories.

Thank you once again, and I believe “thank you” is not the word to be used here. You just accomplish your job as noble and true men and it deserves a much more serious assessment, outstanding job, well done. By the way, I turned on the TV for a couple of minutes and our commentator was talking live with a member of the National Assembly and a chess player. He asked why our chess players were not awarded the hero titles since they really deserve it. Public, people in different places talk about it, they say that the guys are true heroes. I am confident that time for that will come too.