Vladimir Akopian is a professional chess player, coach, and composer. A former student of the Botvinnik-Kasparov school. International Grandmaster since 1991.
Written books on chess composition: "My 111 Problems and Studies" (2004) and "My 150 Problems and Studies" in Russian (2016).
Written books on chess composition: "My 111 Problems and Studies" (2004) and "My 150 Problems and Studies" in Russian (2016).
Biography
1
Vladimir Akopian was born December 7, 1971, in Baku, USSR. At 6, he went to his first chess school. At 8, he fulfilled the norm of the first-category player, which was a rare achievement in those years. Quickly he grew up as one of the most perspective young players in the USSR. Among his victories are big youth tournaments in Kedainiai 1981, Balti 1982, Tallinn 1982, Baku 1984, etc.
2
In 1985 he was invited to the recently opened Botvinnik-Kasparov school. In 1986 he won the Qualification Tournament for the World Youth Championship, thus, qualifying for the World Championship Under 16, being the only representative of the Soviet Union in Argentina.
In 1986 he moved from Baku to Yerevan due to the invitation of the Ministry of Sports of Armenia. His first international success was winning World Championship Under 16 in Rio Gallegos (Argentina, 1986) with 8,5/11 without a single defeat.
In 1986 he moved from Baku to Yerevan due to the invitation of the Ministry of Sports of Armenia. His first international success was winning World Championship Under 16 in Rio Gallegos (Argentina, 1986) with 8,5/11 without a single defeat.
3
In 1988 he fulfilled the norm of an International Master (IM). He became World Champion under 18 in Aguadilla (Puerto Rico, 1989) with 9,5/11. In 1991, he won the US Open Championship (Los Angeles), and a month later became World Junior Champion in Mamaia (Romania) with 10,5/13. The same year he fulfilled the norm of International Grandmaster (GM).
4
As a member of the "Yerevan" Club, he became the winner of the European Club Cup in Ljubljana (Slovenia, 1995). He became the champion of the 56th Armenian championship in 1996 and defended his title in 1997 by winning the 57th Armenian championship for the second time in a row.
5
His best individual performance was the 1999 FIDE World Championship in Las Vegas, where out of 128 participants, he received the World Vice-Champion Title. The same year on the occasion of the 75th Anniversary of FIDE, in appreciation of his excellent contributions to the development of chess in the world, Vladimir Akopian was enrolled in the FIDE Golden Book.
6
Vladimir became the Russian Team Champion four times (2002, 2004, 2006, 2008). Vladimir won the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin (Italy, 2006) as a member of the Armenian national team. In the next Olympiad, he defended the Olympic champion title in Dresden (Germany, 2008).
7
Vladimir won the title of the 8th World Team Chess Championship in Ningbo (China, 2011), playing for the Armenian team. In Istanbul (Turkey, 2012), he regained the Olympic Championship title in the 40th Chess Olympiad.
Akopian has played successfully against different World Champions: Smyslov, Tal, Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand, and World Championship Contenders Gligoric, Korchnoi, Gelfand, Ivanchuk, Kamsky, Karjakin, etc. "Chess Informant" selected his game against Vachier-Lagrave in the 2008 Dresden Olympiad as the best game of volume 104. He is the winner of more than 50 international tournaments.
As a team player, his CV is even more impressive. Vladimir was an integral part of the Armenian team at ten Olympiads, and he became a national hero after helping that country to win three gold medals - Turin (2006), Dresden (2008), and Istanbul (2012).
Akopian won the individual gold medal (first board) in the World Team Championship (Yerevan 2001), as well as in the Dresden Chess Olympiad (second board) 2008. Vladimir led the "Yerevan" Club to win the European Club Cup in Ljubljana (Slovenia, 1995).
Akopian's peak ranking was the #11 player in the world in January 2003. His peak rating was 2713 in July 2006, when he was ranked world #16, and again in October 2007, when he was ranked world #18.
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with Vladimir Akopian?
Vladimir gives private lessons concentrating on middlegame, endgame, calculation, positional play, etc. Carefully selected positions on tactics and strategy together with his explanations will significantly improve your level of play.
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TWO ENDGAMES
Dear friends, today we'll analyze 2 interesting endgames that I have played with a brilliant chess player Alexei Shirov. When thinking of him I immediately see before my eyes the following position and his fantastic 47...Bh3. The main difficulty of this move is that it just does not cross one's mind!
The first endgame we played at the Botvinnik - Kasparov school in 1987.
The study-like salvation in this game Alexei decided to spare for our next and much more important encounter 5 years later. That game was played in the penultimate round and having won it Alexei secured the 1st place with one round to go in a very strong youth competition.
And a small bonus in the end. I was also playing in the tournament and witnessed the episode. What should Black do here?
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