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Los Angeles Daily News
July 21 2014
Women's chess champ Tatev Abrahamyan aims to put the men in check
By Olga Grigoryants
Tatev Abrahamyan seems like the typical Southern California
26-year-old. She watches calories, loves shopping, hanging with
friends and coloring her hair purple. But when this Armenian native is
at the chess board, her ruthless side emerges.
And when the Glendale resident is participating in championship
matches, she makes quick work of some of the world's best players.
Abrahamyan, currently a Women's Grandmaster, has been going up against
the most prominent male players since she was a teenager. At 18, she
defeated Alex-ander Shabalov, a Latvian-born Grandmaster 21 years her
senior who has won the U.S. Chess Championship four times. At 22, she
beat him again at the World Open Chess Tournament.
Now Abrahamyan, whose name means "wings" in Armenian, is herself
aiming for the rare-fied title of Grandmaster. If she achieves her
dream, she will become one of only 26 women ever to hold the overall
Grandmaster title, an honor that is bestowed for life.
Abrahamyan started playing chess back in Armenia at the age of 8, when
she would visit her parents at Yerevan State University, where they
both worked as chemists designing fiber optics. Her father, who
competed as an amateur, would play with his colleagues at lunchtime
and believed his daughter would master the game by watching him.
In 1996, the university hosted a Chess Olympiad with players from more
than a hundred nations, including Hungarian Judit Polgár, who received
the title of Grandmaster at a tender 15 years, the youngest female to
do so.
Abrahamyan watched from the audience with her father and was
mesmerized by Polgár, then the only female player on the scene. "I
thought she was amazing," she recalled. "I wanted to be just like
her."
And with that, becoming a premier player became paramount. "Since she
was eight years old, chess wasn't her hobby," said her mother, Nelli
Mnatsakanyan. "It became her career."
She signed up with a chess school in Armenia, began practicing night
and day and, within a few years, acquired the title Champion of
Armenia, along with a bronze medal in the Euro-pean Championship.
But while a chess star was rising, her country was falling apart. As
many families in post-Soviet Armenia struggled to make ends meet, then
13-year-old Abrahamyan's parents accepted the invitation of an
American friend to start a new life in Glendale.
Abrahamyan left most of her belongings save for her chess books, chess
sets and a letter from her coach, who reached out to his friend Armen
Ambartsoumian, once coach of the Armenian national team and now head
of Glendale's American Chess Academy. Please, he asked, take care of
"his very talented student."
Ambartsoumian saw the youngster's potential right from the start. "I
remember she impressed me with her tactical skills," he said. "She
could solve puzzles faster than anyone else."
Her first year at Clark Magnet High School in Glendale was challenging
because her English was nonexistent. But her chess spoke for itself,
and within a year, she had triumphed in the National K-12 Championship
in Dallas.
In 2011, Abrahamyan graduated from Cal State Long Beach with a major
in political science and psychology.
Today, while also teaching at the American Chess Academy, she is
prepping for the 41st World Chess Olympiad Aug. 1-15 in Tromso,
Norway. A win there will bring her one step closer to her Grandmaster
goal.
Abrahamyan and the reigning women's champion, Ukranian Anna Zatonskih,
will be two of five players representing the U.S. team. "Tatev is very
good in rapid chess," said Zatonskih, who beat Abrahamyan at the U.S.
Women's Championship earlier this year. "She is a very good team
player."
Despite her success, Abrahamyan remains humble about her achievements.
"You have to be obsessed with chess a little," she said.
As for her quest to best the men, Ambartsoumian noted his prized
student doesn't believe female and male players are different. "She
got Women's Grandmaster, and she didn't want that title," he said.
"She thinks she deserves to get the men's title -- and she is right.
She can do it all."
http://www.dailynews.com/sports/20140721/womens-chess-champ-tatev-abrahamyan-aims-to-put-the-men-in-check
July 21 2014
Women's chess champ Tatev Abrahamyan aims to put the men in check
By Olga Grigoryants
Tatev Abrahamyan seems like the typical Southern California
26-year-old. She watches calories, loves shopping, hanging with
friends and coloring her hair purple. But when this Armenian native is
at the chess board, her ruthless side emerges.
And when the Glendale resident is participating in championship
matches, she makes quick work of some of the world's best players.
Abrahamyan, currently a Women's Grandmaster, has been going up against
the most prominent male players since she was a teenager. At 18, she
defeated Alex-ander Shabalov, a Latvian-born Grandmaster 21 years her
senior who has won the U.S. Chess Championship four times. At 22, she
beat him again at the World Open Chess Tournament.
Now Abrahamyan, whose name means "wings" in Armenian, is herself
aiming for the rare-fied title of Grandmaster. If she achieves her
dream, she will become one of only 26 women ever to hold the overall
Grandmaster title, an honor that is bestowed for life.
Abrahamyan started playing chess back in Armenia at the age of 8, when
she would visit her parents at Yerevan State University, where they
both worked as chemists designing fiber optics. Her father, who
competed as an amateur, would play with his colleagues at lunchtime
and believed his daughter would master the game by watching him.
In 1996, the university hosted a Chess Olympiad with players from more
than a hundred nations, including Hungarian Judit Polgár, who received
the title of Grandmaster at a tender 15 years, the youngest female to
do so.
Abrahamyan watched from the audience with her father and was
mesmerized by Polgár, then the only female player on the scene. "I
thought she was amazing," she recalled. "I wanted to be just like
her."
And with that, becoming a premier player became paramount. "Since she
was eight years old, chess wasn't her hobby," said her mother, Nelli
Mnatsakanyan. "It became her career."
She signed up with a chess school in Armenia, began practicing night
and day and, within a few years, acquired the title Champion of
Armenia, along with a bronze medal in the Euro-pean Championship.
But while a chess star was rising, her country was falling apart. As
many families in post-Soviet Armenia struggled to make ends meet, then
13-year-old Abrahamyan's parents accepted the invitation of an
American friend to start a new life in Glendale.
Abrahamyan left most of her belongings save for her chess books, chess
sets and a letter from her coach, who reached out to his friend Armen
Ambartsoumian, once coach of the Armenian national team and now head
of Glendale's American Chess Academy. Please, he asked, take care of
"his very talented student."
Ambartsoumian saw the youngster's potential right from the start. "I
remember she impressed me with her tactical skills," he said. "She
could solve puzzles faster than anyone else."
Her first year at Clark Magnet High School in Glendale was challenging
because her English was nonexistent. But her chess spoke for itself,
and within a year, she had triumphed in the National K-12 Championship
in Dallas.
In 2011, Abrahamyan graduated from Cal State Long Beach with a major
in political science and psychology.
Today, while also teaching at the American Chess Academy, she is
prepping for the 41st World Chess Olympiad Aug. 1-15 in Tromso,
Norway. A win there will bring her one step closer to her Grandmaster
goal.
Abrahamyan and the reigning women's champion, Ukranian Anna Zatonskih,
will be two of five players representing the U.S. team. "Tatev is very
good in rapid chess," said Zatonskih, who beat Abrahamyan at the U.S.
Women's Championship earlier this year. "She is a very good team
player."
Despite her success, Abrahamyan remains humble about her achievements.
"You have to be obsessed with chess a little," she said.
As for her quest to best the men, Ambartsoumian noted his prized
student doesn't believe female and male players are different. "She
got Women's Grandmaster, and she didn't want that title," he said.
"She thinks she deserves to get the men's title -- and she is right.
She can do it all."
http://www.dailynews.com/sports/20140721/womens-chess-champ-tatev-abrahamyan-aims-to-put-the-men-in-check