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Interestingly, though both boys and girls were playing chess, the most celebrated Soviet Armenian players are men. While there were no Soviet Armenian female chess pioneers such as Georgias Nona Gaprindashvili, Armenian women players were still making strides in the sport. In 1964, Tamara Boiakhchian won the Armenian National Championship for the first time, and would go on to win more Armenian championships for a total of 7 times. Representing neighboring Georgia, ethnically Armenian Varvara Stepanovna Zargarian found success not only in winning the National Georgian Championship in 1938 and 1939, but also by playing in the 1945 USSR Womens Championship. Another ethnically Armenian player, Nonna Karakashyan, won the National Azerbaijan Championship in 1961, 1963 and 1964, and was a member of the Azerbaijani national team for almost a decade. Karakashyan would later come to be a Deputy Director of the Executive Committee of the Armenian Chess Federation after the collapse of the USSR.

Chess in Armenia Today

Much of Armenias chess success continues to this day. Since independence, Armenia has been punching well above its weight, winning the World Chess Olympiad 3 times, and boasting 24 active Armenian grandmasters, 4 women grandmasters, 17 international masters and 4 women international masters; not to mention the fact that Armenian Levon Aronian is the fourth-highest rated chess player in history. Independent Armenia also takes pride in having a woman who is a grandmaster, Elina Danielian one of only 38 women in the world. Danielian, its worth noting, is independent Armenias first European individual champion of either sex.Woman Grandmaster and Secretary General of the Armenian Chess Federation Maria Gevorgyan

So what exactly is it that has driven Armenians to produce such successful chess players in the 21st century? Well, for some players, it starts in the home. In the words of Woman Grandmaster and Secretary General of the Armenian Chess Federation Maria Gevorgyan, in almost every family in Armenia, there is a chess player. WGM Gevorgyan, born in 1994 and a member of the newest generation of Armenian chess stars, began playing chess at the age of three, and when old enough, took classes and began competing more seriously once her talent was discovered. From there on, among her many successes in Armenia and internationally, she placed 3rd in the European Youth Chess Championship in the girls U18 category in 2011, becoming the first female from Armenia in 18 years to win such a title in Europe at the time.

Just like her, children today who are interested and/or talented can go to study chess with a tutor, at a chess camp, or one of the various chess schools and academies in the country. WGM Gevorgyan noted that for younger children, there are many opportunities to take classes and study chess for free. Armenia of course, made history by becoming the first country in the world to mandate the teaching of chess in public school in 2011, though the impact of classes has yet to be fully understood, as the first generation to have taken them is too young to see a result.

As far as other chess infrastructure, Armenia is fortunate to have grandmasters and highly ranked players who coach at chess schools or privately. Youth who have talent typically go to additional lessons where they solve more intense puzzles, learn advanced techniques and work with tougher coaches. In some instances, as early as middle school, players with potential choose to either intensify their chess studies or focus on school. Those who choose the path of chess of course still stay in school but prioritize chess.

The rest is here:
The Armenian Advantage: The Past, Present and Future of Chess - The Armenian Mirror-Spectator