CAMPIONATI MONDIALI DI SCACCHI A SQUADRA* 20II NINGBO CINA

La squadra di scacchi dell'Armenia Campione del Mondo per la terza volta (dopo la splendida vittoria ai campionati mondiali di Torino nel 2006 e di Dresden nel 2008)!!!!
Auguri e onore ai nostri splendidi CAMPIONI!

Armenia Wins Another World Chess Title
Armenia - Armenian chess players who won the 2011 World Chess Team Championship in Ningbo, China, Jul2011

26.07.2011
Hovannes Shoghikian
Armenia won the 2011 World Chess Team Championship in China on Tuesday, solidifying its internationally recognized status as a powerhouse of the ancient game.


The championship held in the Chinese city of Ningbo was contested by the national teams of the world’s ten leading chess nations, including Russia, Ukraine, India and Azerbaijan.

The Armenian team led by Levon Aronian, the world’s third highest ranked chess player, dominated throughout the 12-day tournament, winning five games and drawing the four others. It sealed the title with a draw against Ukraine in the final round of the competition.

The team mostly consisted of players who won two consecutive world Chess Olympiads in 2006 and 2008. Those victories earned them domestic stardom comparable to the popularity of the world’s leading athletes.

Chess has been one of Armenia’s most popular sports ever since Tigran Petrosian, a Tbilisi-born Armenian, became a world champion in 1963. The country currently boasts one of the largest per-capita numbers of chess grandmasters in the world.

Two of its three post-Soviet presidents are keen chess players who have promoted the game while in office. The current president, Serzh Sarkisian, heads the Armenian Chess Federation. He personally supported the national team during its Olympic triumphs.

Earlier this year, Sarkisian’s government decided to make chess a mandatory subject in primary schools.

The Armenian National Congress, an opposition grouping led by former President Levon Ter-Petrosian, was quick to welcome the “brilliant” victory in Ningbo. “Thanks to this feat by our chess players, Armenia has entered the chess Olympus for good,” it declared in a special statement.

“This is a great result,” agreed Vanik Zakarian, the honorary chairman of the Armenian Chess Federation. “Our team has been considered a major contender in all chess competitions held in recent years.”

Zakarian said the championship victory is no less significant than the Olympic titles. “What makes chess Olympiads different is that all teams compete in them, whereas only the selected best teams take part in world championships,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.

*Campionato del mondo a squadre di scacchi
Il campionato del mondo a squadre di scacchi è un torneo scacchistico riservato alle squadre nazionali, che si disputa ogni quattro anni; è organizzato dalla FIDE. La prima edizione è stata disputata nel 1985, mentre nel 2005 è stato aggiunto un campionato femminile.

A differenza delle Olimpiadi degli scacchi, alle quali possono partecipare tutte le nazioni che lo desiderano, il campionato del mondo prevede solamente dieci partecipanti: attualmente hanno diritto alla qualificazione la nazione ospitante, i vincitori dei campionati continentali (europeo, asiatico, africano e panamericano), tre nazioni dalle Olimpiadi e il vincitore del campionato femminile precedente, più un'invitata. In precedenza, il numero delle nazioni provenienti dalle Olimpiadi era maggiore (per compensare l'assenza della squadra femminile, eventuali rinunce e, a volte, l'assenza dell'invito); nelle prime due edizioni, inoltre, non essendo stato ancora istituito il campionato africano, partecipò una rappresentativa dell'intero continente

S.M.