Karen Asrian ( hy, Կարեն Ասրյան; 24 April 1980 – 9 June 2008) was an Armenian

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

player. Awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1998, he was a three-time Armenian champion. Asrian was a member of the gold medal-winning Armenian team in the

37th Chess Olympiad The 37th Chess Olympiad ( it, Le 37° Olimpiadi degli scacchi), organized by FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. and a women's tournament, as we ...

Career

Asrian started playing chess in 1985, became an international master in 1997 and a grandmaster in 1998. He graduated from the Armenian State Institute of Physical Culture and Sport in 2001. He won the Armenian Chess Championship in 1999, 2007, and 2008, and the Dubai 2001 and 2004

Tigran Petrosian Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (, ; 17 June 1929 – 13 August 1984) was a Soviet-Armenian chess grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his almost-impenetrable defensive playing style ...

Memorial tournaments. In 2006, Asrian competed on third board for the gold medal-winning Armenian team at the

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 an ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

. In Armenia he became team champion in 2006 and 2007 with ''Bank King Yerevan''. In Russia he played for ''South Ural Chelyabinsk'' in 2006 and 2007 and for the Chess Federation of Moscow in 2008. In the French first division, the Top 16, he played for Bischwiller in 2006–07 and 2007–08. On 9 June 2008 the

Chess Federation of Armenia The Chess Federation of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի շախմատի ֆեդերացիա), also known as the Armenian Chess Federation, is the governing chess organization in Armenia and is affiliated to FIDE. The body was founded in 1927. Resp ...

reported that Asrian had died of a suspected

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

while driving, which was confirmed the following day. His final Elo rating, in April 2008, was 2630.

Tournament records

*2003 4th

European Individual Chess Championship The European Individual Chess Championship is a chess tournament organised by the European Chess Union. It was established in 2000 and has since then taken place on a yearly basis. Apart from determining the European champions (open and women's), ...

8/13 *2004 3rd

Aeroflot Open The Aeroflot Open is an annual open chess tournament played in Moscow and sponsored by the airline Aeroflot. It was established in 2002 and quickly grew to be the strongest open tournament; in 2013 it was converted to a rapid Rapids are sections ...

5.5/9 *2004 Petrosian Memorial Tournament 6/9 *2004 6th Dubai Open 5/9 *2004 5th European Individual Chess Championship 8/13 *2005 65th Armenian Championship 7/11 *2005 4th Aeroflot Open 5.5/9 *2005 Karabakh International 4/9 *2005 6th European Individual Chess Championship 9/13 *2006 66th Armenian Championship 5.5/9 *2006 5th Aeroflot Open 5.5/9 *2006

5/10 *2007 67th Armenian Championship 9.5/13 *2007 6th Aeroflot Open 5.5/9 *2007 7th European Individual Chess Championship 6/11 *2008 68th Armenian Championship 8/13 *2008 Moscow Open 6/9 *2008 7th Aeroflot Open 5.5/9 *2008 8th European Individual Chess Championship 6.5/11

Death

On 9 June 2008, the Chess Federation of Armenia reported that Asrian had died of a

while driving. Asrian, feeling ill, pulled his car into a courtyard in the Armenian capital of

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...

on an early Monday and then lost consciousness. An ambulance crew pronounced him dead at the scene, possibly of a heart attack. A moment of silence was held in his memory before the opening of a speed-chess tournament in Yerevan on Monday, after his death was announced by Armenian chess player

Smbat Lputian Smbat Gariginovich Lputian (sometimes transliterated as Lputyan; hy, Սմբատ Լպուտյան; born 14 February 1958, in Yerevan) is an Armenian chess Grandmaster. He was first at tournament in Berlin 1982, shared first at Athens 1983 and ...

. Asrian received an open casket funeral on 11 June in the Tigran Petrosian Chess House. President of Armenia and the Armenian Chess Federation

Serzh Sargsyan Serzh Azati Sargsyan ( hy, Սերժ Ազատի Սարգսյան, ; born 30 June 1954)Of ...

, Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan, Chairman of Parliament of Armenia Tigran Torosyan, participants of the GM tournament held in Yerevan, and thousands of chess lovers were present at the funeral service. He was supposed to take part in the, starting shortly after his death, Iranian Chess Premier League. Before the arbiters started the clocks in the first round on Thursday 12 June, there was a minute's silence in honour of Grandmaster Karen Asrian's memory. Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, the leading chess player in Iran and fellow club teammate of Fajr-e-Shams-e-Atieh, gave a speech before the start of the tournament and sorrowfully announced the passing of his good friend Asrian and, on behalf of the Iranian Chess Community, expressed his sincere condolences to Karen's family, friends and the entire World Chess Community.

Legacy

The Chess Giants Yerevan tournament was named such up until 2008. After the sudden and tragic death of Asrian on 9 June 2008, the same day the tournament began, the Chess Federation of Armenia decided to interrupt the event for a few days, and then rename it to the Karen Asrian Memorial, which continued to be its name in the next editions. Compatriot Levon Aronian won that same first Karen Asrian Memorial on 15 June. Asrian and Aronian had both been on the

gold medal-winning team.

Notable games

Rustam Kasimdzhanov vs Karen Asrian, Lausanne YM Pool B 1999, Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange, Positional Variation (D35), 0-1Karen Asrian vs Igor Khenkin, FIDE WCh KO 2001, Sicilian Defense: Four Knights Variation (B40), –Karen Asrian vs Arman Pashikian, 66th Armenian Championship 2006, Spanish Game: General (C65), 1-0Konstantin Maslak vs Karen Asrian, 6th Aeroflot Festival 2007, French Defense: Advance Variation, Main Line (C02), 0-1

References

External links

Website dedicated to the memory of Karen Asrian
* * *
Karen Asrian
Grandmaster Games Database at RedHotPawn.com

FIDE rating history at benoni.de
Karen Asrian, 1980–2008

Karen Asrian Tribute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asrian, Karen 1980 births 2008 deaths Armenian chess players Chess grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors Armenian State Institute of Physical Culture and Sport alumni Sportspeople from Yerevan 20th-century chess players