Vladimir Akopian

Vladimir Akopian is a chess legend. The Armenian-American Grandmaster deserves this distinction for coming within one game of becoming FIDE World Champion. Akopian made it to the final of the 1999 FIDE Knockout World Championship in Las Vegas where he lost by the narrowest of margins (3.5-2.5) to Alexander Khalifman. 

Early results for Akopian, who learned to play chess when Armenia was part of the Soviet Union, indicated he was a player with tremendous potential. He won the World Under 16 Championship in 1986 at the age of 14 and the World Under 18 Championship at age 16. Akopian topped off these sterling performances by winning the World Junior Chess Championship in 1991.

Though Akopian was rated as high as number 11 in the World (June 2003), with a peak FIDE rating of 2713 (July 2006), the greatest successes in his career were achieved in team competitions. He helped lead Armenia to Olympic gold in 2006, 2008 and 2012 and World Team gold in 2011 – not bad for a country with only three million people!

Akopian, who now calls Southern California home, switched federations and started representing the United States in 2021. He was the winner of the 2024 U.S. Senior Championship with a round to spare, scoring an impressive 7 from 9.  Last year he tied for first but lost the playoff.