Young Iraqi-Armenian: “I would never imagine winning the Minister of Diaspora at chess”

On July 11, Minister of Diaspora Mkhitar Hayrapetyan met with participants of the transitional stage of the “Ari Tun” (Come Home) educational-cognitive program at Tigran Petrosyan Chess House where the participants had the opportunity to play and learn how to play chess with the Minister for two-and-a-half hours. Mkhitar Hayrapetyan played with 19 young Diaspora Armenians at once.

Iraqi-Armenian Antranig Sebouh-Sarkisian, 17, won the Minister.

In an interview with Hayern Aysor, Antranig said that chess is one of his beloved sports since it gives him the opportunity to enhance his logic, the ability to make the right decisions and think flexibly. His mother taught him how to play chess when he was a kid. Antranig also prefers to play computer games on his free time.

Talking about his victory, Antranig said he was happy to have had the opportunity to play with the Minister of Diaspora and that he will always remember the chess match. It was a tough match since Mkhitar Hayrapetyan played well and had surrounded Antranig’s chess figures, and this cast a doubt on Antranig’s victory.

Antranig was impressed by the Minister’s straightforwardness and how the Minister created a friendly environment in the hall, weakening the tension.

After the match, Mkhitar Hayrapetyan praised Antranig, who was motivated and decided to become more seriously involved in chess in the future.

Touching upon the “Ari Tun” Program, the young Iraqi-Armenian said that he had spent wonderful days, enjoyed every moment of the program, established cordial ties with his peers from different countries and can’t imagine how he is going to bid them farewell.

“My first trip to Armenia became a lesson of patriotism for me. I realized that Armenia is my home and that I will definitely repatriate sooner or later. I think my participation was important in that I improved my knowledge of Armenian and learned a lot about Armenian history, literature, architecture and other topics during the native studies courses held as part of the program,” Antranig Sebouh-Sarkisian emphasized.

Gevorg Chichyan

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