Armenia's teams make a confident start at the 2026 Chess Olympiad

Armenia's men's and women's national teams made a successful start to the 2026 Chess Olympiad, recording convincing victories in the opening round.

The Armenian men's team gave Barbados no chance, winning the match by a perfect 4-0 score.

All four Armenian players won their respective games:

• Robert Hovhannisyan (2642) — Justin Blackman (2255) — 1-0
• Shant Sargsyan (2630) — Orlando Husbands (2222) — 1-0
• Gabriel Sargissian (2610) — Elmar Edwards (1958) — 1-0
• Manuel Petrosyan (2569) — Justin Parsons (1906) — 1-0

As a result, Armenia collected the maximum four board points and made a confident start to the tournament.

In the second round, which will take place tomorrow, Armenia will face Scotland.

Armenia's women's team also starts with a big win

The Armenian women's team also enjoyed a successful opening round. Armenia defeated Hong Kong by a convincing 3.5-0.5 score.

Mariam Mkrtchyan, Susanna Gaboyan and Anahit Mkrtchyan won their games, while Elina Danielian drew her encounter.

The individual results were:

• Mariam Mkrtchyan (2374) — Sigappi Kanappan (1955) — 1-0
• Elina Danielian (2382) — Tian Yi Liu (1799) — 0.5-0.5
• Susanna Gaboyan (2179) — Hue Tin Len (1636) — 1-0
• Anahit Mkrtchyan (2106) — Chloe Hailey Lau (1753) — 1-0

In the second round, the Armenian women's team will face Singapore.

Thus, both Armenian teams opened their campaigns at the 2026 Chess Olympiad with convincing victories and successfully completed the first round.