
SPORT: ARONYAN IN THE LOW COUNTRIES – SO FAR, SO GOOD
- ChessArmenian grandmaster Levon Aronyan got off to a flying start at the Corus tournament in the Netherlands that had brought together 14 leading grandmasters of the world.

The winner of last year’s tournament in Wijk aan Zee beat Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria (with white) and Boris Gelfand of Israel (with black) in the two opening games, and then drew with Hungary’s Peter Leko (with white), Norway’s Magnus Carlsen (with black), and reigning world champion Viswanathan Anand from India (with white).
Before the Friday six-round game against ex-world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, Aronyan (to play with black pieces) has 3.5 points and shares the first spot with Carlsen and Teymur Rajabov from Azerbaijan.
The tournament will run through January 27.
For latest results and standings go to the tournament’s official website at www.coruschess.com
Football
International football’s governing body, FIFA, will hold a draw to determine the order of matches in two World Cup 2010 qualifying groups in the European zone after the teams involved failed to reach agreement by the January 16 deadline.
The draw will also involve Group Five where Armenia’s rivals are Spain, Turkey, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Estonia.
According to the Football Federation of Armenia (FFA; www.ffa.am), it has been decided to hold the Group Five draw on the sidelines of a regular UEFA congress in the Croatian capital of Zagreb on January 30.
Meanwhile, Armenia’s national football team is due to take part in an international tournament in Malta on February 2-6. Among participants will be the host nation, as well as Belarus and Iceland. According to the FFA, Vardan Minasyan is likely to act as head coach unless no manager is invited by that time.
And in international club competitions, Armenia’s 2007 runner-up FC Banants for the second time in a row will be a replacement for champion FC Pyunik in the CIS/Baltic States Champions’ Cup in St. Petersburg, Russia, that opens this weekend.
Banants’ rivals in Group D are the champions of Uzbekistan, Belarus and Ukraine.
In the opening match on January 19 Banants will play Belarus champion BATE Borisov, then the Armenian club’s rivals will be Uzbekistan’s Pakhtakor Tashkent and Ukraine’s Dynamo Kiev.
According to the tournament regulations (www.rfs.ru), the two best teams from each group qualify for the quarterfinals. The final is scheduled for January 27.
Ice-Hockey
Armenia’s National U-20 ice-hockey team is competing in the IIHF 2008 World Junior Division III Championships in Belgrade, Serbia held from 16 to 24 January.
As A1 Plus (www.a1plus.am) reports, in their opening match on Wednesday Armenia routed South Africa 13-1. The next opponent is Turkey.
Division III involves seven teams, including Serbia, Australia, New Zealand, Armenia, Turkey, Bulgaria and South Africa. Only the top two finishers advance to the upper section.
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ChessArmenian grandmaster Levon Aronyan got off to a flying start at the Corus tournament in the Netherlands that had brought together 14 leading grandmasters of the world.
The winner of last year’s ...
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Ani Hakobyan
- 1830 Following Sultan Mahmood's decree and the advice of the French, British, and Russian ambassadors, the Armenian Catholics in Turkey were given a Patriarchate and their own administrative organization.
- 1888 Birth, in Constantinople, of the actor Vahram Papazyan. He is considered to have no equal in the Armenian theater.
- 1906 Birth of composer Ashot Satian. He died in 1958.
- 1911 Birth of theater personality Gevorg Ashughyan.
- 1990 Start of hostilities between Armenian and Azeri Turkish forces near Raskh.
- 2001 The French Senate recognizes the 1915 Genocide of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.
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