Grandmaster Levon Aronian retains 3rd position in FIDE rankings with 2801 points. Viswanathan Anand tops FIDE list with 2804 points, followed by Magnus Carlsen (2802 points). Lilit Mkrtchyan is the leader among Armenian women chess players, occupying the 22nd position with 2479 points. Hungarian WGM Judit Polgar tops the list with 2686 points.
Grandmaster Zaven Andreasyan gained 4.5 points after 6 rounds of Chigorin Memorial in Saint Petersburg. Hrant Melkumyan, Davit Harutyunyan and Karen Grigoryan have 4 points each. Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Ivan Sokolov leads the tournament with 6 points.
Football: Armenian Football Federation has been awarded five-star membership of the UEFA Grassroots Charter. The award is given by UEFA's Executive Committee to member associations who can demonstrate their excellent work in the grassroots sector. Each association enters the UEFA Grassroots Charter with one-star status, and additional stars are given on the basis of specific grassroots areas including the nurturing of women's and girls' football, social programs including disability football, the number of participants, and promotion of grassroots football. While five is currently the top level, up to seven stars are possible for a national association which pursues even more comprehensive grassroots policies.
FC Pyunik scratched a 1-0 victory over FC Banants in round 26 of the Armenian Football Championship, taking the lead with 59 points. FC Ullisses defeated FC Kilikia 3-0, FC Mika beat FC Gandzasar 1-0 while FC Shirak scored a 2-1 victory over FC Impuls. In round 27, FC Pyunik will rival FC Gandzasar. The other matches of the round are: FC Banants - FC Kilikia, FC Ullisses - FC Shirak, FC Impuls - FC Mika.
On the threshold of the return match v Arsenal, Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu said that midfielder Henrik Mkhitaryan will to all appearance withdraw from all matches till the yearend. Mkhitaryan says he doesn’t feel well and complains of a microtrauma. Commenting on the impending match he said, “It will be a combat and the guys will do their best. Concentration and aggression are needed against Arsenal.”
Tennis: David Nalbandian dropped out of Open Sud De France 2010 after a defeat by Gilles Simon.
Later, he has advanced in Swiss Indoors Basel 2010 in Basel with a straight-set 6-3, 6-4 first round win over Jan Hajek to be joined in the second round by Marin Cilic and Janko Tipsarevic.
Boxing: Undefeated Vanes Martirosyan (28-0, 17KO) actually took a break from challenging everyone in and around the junior middleweight division. A recent press release by Golden Boy Promotions had undefeated junior middleweight prospect Erislandy Lara calling out the Armenian. “I’ve proven myself, especially this year. Now I want to let Vanes and fans around the world know that when you talk and my name comes out of your mouth, you better be ready to back it up. If Vanes spent as much time in the gym as he did on the Internet talking about real fighters, he might have been a world champion by now,” the Cuban said. "Lara is making me shake in my boots,” Martirosyan said in a mocking tone, when alerted of Lara’s comments. “Didn't I make it clear that I want to fight top 10 guys? I'm done with amateurs."
Showtime's bantamweight doubleheader, scheduled for December 11, will move from Leon, Mexico to Los Angeles, California. In the main event, IBO bantamweight champion Vic Darchinyan (35-2-1, 27 KOs) will defend the title against unbeaten Abner Mares (20-0-1, 13 KOs). In the co-feature, IBF bantamweight champion Yonnhy Perez (20-0-1, 14 KOs) will defend his title in a rematch with former champ Joseph Agbeko (27-2, 22 KOs).
Fencing: Mikael Ghazaryan, Arkady Muradyan and Gharib Vardanyan have qualified to represent Armenia at the 2010 World Fencing Championships in Paris on Nov. 4-13. As spokesman for the Armenian Fencing Federation Artashes Madoyan told a PanARMENAIN.Net reporter, the sportsmen held a training session in Tsaghkadzor. Besides, Armenian fencers will participate in an international tournament in Tehran in December.
