On March 22, Robert Hovhannisyan will face off against Étienne Bacrot (France), while Hrant Melkumian will rival Nils Grandelius (Sweden) in the 3rd round of the European Individual Chess Championship in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

Other board pairings have been announced as follows: Sergei Movsesian- Vasilios Kotronias (Greece), Samvel Ter-Sahakyan - Ernesto Inarkiev (Russia), Gabriel Sarkissian- Marius Manolache (Romania).

Tigran L. Petrosian will face Serbia’s Matej Sebenik, Zaven Andreasian- Bosko Tomic (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Vladimir Akopian- Pavel Simacek (Czech Republic). Hovhannes Gabuzyan will rival Russia’s Vladimir Potkin, Arman Pashikyan - Ogulcan Kanmazalp (Turkey).

The winner will get euro 14 thous. The event is organized in 11-round Swiss system in accordance with the ECU Tournament Rules and FIDE Laws of Chess.

The rate of play will be 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one.