FIDE recognized the Armenian men’s chess team as the best team of the 100th anniversary

On the night of the 8th round of the 45th Chess Olympiad, a chess gala concert dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the International Chess Federation was held in Budapest, the exceptional achievements and contributions of grandmasters, teams and organizations in the chess community were celebrated, where the Armenian men’s national team was recognized as the best team of the 100th anniversary.

The official page of FIDE commented on the achievement:

“One soldier is good, but if you have a great team, you can turn the world around.” Although the USSR team will be the unbeaten leader in both the men’s and women’s categories in terms of the number of medals at the Olympics, the jury decided to select the best team currently in existence. Armenia has surpassed the others, winning three times, and China has won two gold medals in the Olympics in the last ten years.

The “Best 100th Anniversary Team” award went to Armen Gevorgyan, Executive Director of the Chess Federation of Armenia.

FIDE also awarded Smbat Lputyan as the best male chess player.

Smbat Lputyan is an Armenian chess grandmaster and chess teacher. Under his leadership, chess was introduced to Armenian schools, and he headed the FIDE Education Commission for many years, promoting chess education throughout the world. Currently, more than 25 million children participate in educational chess classes, and FIDE intends to double that number in the coming years, FIDE noted.

Samvel MKhitaryan