reports

 Just recently Goldchess has visited Yerevan, Armenia, where we hosted the 1st Yerevan Goldchess Cup as well as sponsored a brilliancy prize for the best game of the tournament. I bring to you a brief report of our trip.

 

 We couldn't have gotten a better weather; it was a sunny 22-27 degrees Celsius with no rain throughout the whole stay. We were picked up from the Zvartnots Yerevan Airport by the mother and cousin of Maria Gevorgyan, the current Armenian national women's champion. On the way to our hotel, we had a chance to take a look at some of the city's interesting spots. The city has a unique architecture, with buildings made of stone intertwined with hills, including an impressive canyon in the middle of the city. The day of our arrival happened to coincide with the city's birthday, and we witnessed many locals out in the streets celebrating. 

 

 We were very impressed with the Yerevan city center. The fantastic Parliament Palace surely belongs to the greatest buildings in Europe. The main street is full of colorful cafe's and restaurants, including a few traditional Armenian cuisine spots. We dined in one of those and enjoyed a nice atmosphere of a Yerevan evening. Afterwards, I had a chance to check out one of the many bars of Yerevan, where, together with a few locals including my good friend IM Tigran Petrosian S., we smoked a hookah and had a beer. I must admit that the beer, Kilikia, has some really interesting flavor to it, much different from what I am used to. And let me also mention that the local ladies add a lot to the overall aesthetics of the place too. 

 

 On the 8th of October, we hosted the 1st Yerevan Goldchess Cup. The participants of the tournament included 3 GM's (GM Grigoryan from Armenia, GM Bernadskiy from Ukraine, GM Hayrapetian from Armenia), the World Youth Champion under 16 years from Armenia, IM Hayk Martirosian, as well as the Iranian prodigy, IM Alireza Firouzja. Also, out of the total of 13 participants, we had 3 women taking part in the event. The first place was taken by GM Karen Grigoryan, who solved the task in 28 minutes, just 2 minutes short of the end. The second place, after we granted another 5 moves of the solution, was won by IM Arman Mikaelyan. During the competition we had a chance to see that the CEEC can be quite playful at times; the very talented IM Hayk Martirosian, the hope of Armenian chess, was very close to finding an alternative solution had it not been for the CEEC resigining the move before the intended checkmate, hence killing the potential solution. The command was explicit, it had to be a checkmate!

 

 The brilliancy prize was given to Aleks Nuryjanyan, for his excellent win over Hayk Manukyan in the Dragon Defense. 

We plan to return to Armenia. :)