American GM Samuel Sevian won the seventh Stepan Avagyan Memorial in Jermuk: 5½ out of 9, undefeated, edging Vladislav Artemiev only on tie-breaks. Nihal Sarin finished third on 5 points.
The Stepan Avagyan Memorial is a tournament with history: Armenia has held it in Jermuk since 2019, and the field strengthens every year. The seventh edition gathered ten grandmasters from seven countries, and the hall was full as always: for Jermuk a chess week is an event on the town's scale.
Sevian played with the quality all his coaches note: he feels equally confident in sharp tactical positions and in dry positional schemes. Both were needed here — tactics brought the mid-event wins, and positional restraint the decisive black draw in the final round that kept him ahead of Artemiev.
Artemiev, for whom second place was the season's best result, called Jermuk "one of the most honest tournaments on the calendar" afterwards: no loud sponsor activations, just mountain air, long post-game analyses and an audience that understands chess. The winner received greetings from the Armenian federation with the wording "a friend who always returns" — Sevian has said this event is his favourite on the calendar.
The ten-player round-robin ran nine rounds without rest days; Sevian captured the title at this event for the second time in his career.
Final standings
| # | Player | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Samuel Sevian (USA) | 5½/9 |
| 2 | Vladislav Artemiev (Russia) | 5½/9 |
| 3 | Nihal Sarin (India) | 5/9 |
Sources
- ChessBase, accessed 07.09.2026
- Chess Academy of Armenia, accessed 07.09.2026
Ararat International Online School
