GM Vladimir Akopian

born 1971 Dec 7 peak rating 2713(July 2006) Akopian won the World Under-16 Championship iat the age of 14 and the World Under-18 Championship at 16 1991 he won the World Junior Chess Championship and in 1999 he made his way through to the final of the FIDE Knock-Out World Chess Championship, but lost to Alexander Khalifman, 3.5-2.5. In the 2004 event, he was knocked out in the quarter-finals by the player he had defeated in the 1999 semi-finals, Michael Adams. Akopian was one of the contributing players on the Armenian chess team which won gold at the 2006 Chess Olympiad ahead of second placed China and third placed United States and the 38th Chess Olympiad in Dresden, 2008. Early in 2007, Akopian won the Gibtelecom Masters in Gibraltar with a score of 7.5/9 ahead of a group of players tied at 7/9 including Michael Adams. In December 2009, he was awarded the title of "Honoured Master of Sport of the Republic of Armenia".