Chess in the mountains of Armenia

Mountain guide and blogger Suren Aghabekyan is the author of the series “Chess in the mountains of Armenia”. For several years now, he has been presenting chess game analysis in English on his blog. Some of his videos are shot on tops of mountains. On his YouTube channel “Chess with Suren”, there is a separate section, in which he analyzes chess games on the mountain tops.

How did hiking life begin?

In a conversation with us, Suren said that he started hiking in 2010. “The first peak I climbed was Mount Bovakar in the Lori region. After that, I joined the hike, organized by YSU Department of Physical Culture teacher Baburyan, and together we reached the northern summit of Aragats. That’s how I stayed in the mountains…”

Suren said that when he just started hiking and discovering the mountains, he could not imagine that in the future it could become something profitable. “…Until my friend offered to take a small group of tourists to the Geghama Mountains”.

Talking about the idea of starting his own blog, Suren said that he wanted to have a travel blog on YouTube for a long time, but since the chess blog was consuming all his time and money, he decided to concentrate on that. “My blog is in English. Mainly I analyze historical chess games and present original solutions of endgame studies. I have a large audience, already more than 111 thousand subscribers. The travel blog is also gradually coming to life”.

Chess in the mountains of Armenia

Suren thinks that in order to stand out and not get lost in the maze of endless YouTube videos, you need to look for unique solutions. “Once I decided to take a crazy step and took a small magnetic chess set with me to the top of Mount Azhdahak. With the help of my friend, I shot my first video. My subscribers really liked it, and I watched and laughed at my strange idea. I decided to continue and started to look for new mountains for my videos. I presented the endgame study of Troitsky on top of rainy Azhdahak, I sacrificed Tal’s queen on top of Mount Nzhuyg, and one of Kasparyan’s studies was presented on top of Ararat”.

Suren chose English language for his blog, because it helps to reach international audience. Talking about the difficulties, he said that once he forgot the solution to the endgame study, and the answer to it was in the discharged phone. “Fortunately, I found the solution…Another difficulty happened on the Akhtamar Island. The police officer did not let me shoot a video and was surprised when he saw my chess set. When I said it was just chess and I was not filming anything related to politics, he replied in broken English, “Satranç good, tripod problem”. Turned out that the presence of a tripod makes the shooting professional, and this requires a special permit. Fortunately, the gendarmerie was late, and I shot the same video for the second time”.

Chess destinations

Suren says that when he chooses mountain destinations for his videos, he draws attention to the beautiful scenery. “However, petroglyphs and vishapakars also appeared in the chess videos. By the way, I shot some successful videos while hiking with ArmGeo. The videos shot in the Yeranos, Nzhuyg, Ayrikar mountains and in the second camp of Mount Ararat turned out especially great”.

Speaking about future videos, Suren said that if there are no obstacles, he plans to shoot several videos in the Heruni National Space Center. “Since I have a large audience, I try to choose places that will attract the interest of foreigners and can become more recognizable. The videos with petroglyphs and vishapakars were made for this purpose. I plan to continue this series”.

Suren found a great way to combine his two favorite hobbies, and chess in the mountains of Armenia gave him the opportunity to present analysis of chess games in a more creative, interesting and unique way.

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