Vladimir Akopian

Vladimir Hakobyan was born December 7, 1971 in Baku USSR (Azerbaijan). At 6, in 1977 he went to his first chess school. In 1985 he was invited to the recently opened Botvinnik-Kasparov school. In 1986 he moved from Azerbaijan to Armenia, due to the invitation of the Ministry of Sports of Armenia. He has been a GM since 1991 and a member of the Armenian national team since 1992. Akopian’s top achievements include World Champion under 16 (1986), World Champion under 18 (1989), World Champion under 20 (1991), Winner of US Open Championship (1991), Winner of the European Club Cup as a member of "Yerevan" Club (1995), World Vice-Champion Las Vegas (1999), Winner of Russian Team Championship (2002, 2004, 2006, 2008), Winner of the 37th Chess Olympiad (Turin, 2006), Winner of the 38th Chess Olympiad (Dresden, 2008), Winner of the 40th Chess Olympiad (Istanbul, 2012), Winner of the 8th World Team Chess Championship (Ningbo, 2011). Champion of Armenia (1996,1997), Winner of more than 50 international tournaments. Coach of Qatar National Team (2004-2007), Coach of Armenian Chess Federation (2008-2015, 2017-2019), Coach of Sharjah Chess Club (2015-2017), and a FIDE Senior Trainer since 2015.