At one of press clubs in Yerevan on Friday media representatives greeted with champagne and congratulations members of the Armenian chess team that won the title at the World Team Championships in China earlier this week.

The team that remained unbeaten and showed some brilliance at individual levels throughout the nine-round tournament in the town of Ningbo defeated such leading chess nations as China, India, Israel and others to claim the title.

The team’s coach Arshak Petrosian says the average rating of the ten nations participating in the tournament was very high, which turned the competition into a real title race.

“It was a tough competition. We were very happy that we managed to win without suffering a single defeat in this competition… Even the Russian team that had an average coefficient of 2756 suffered three defeats. This shows how strong the participating teams were,” says Petrosian.

This is not the first time an Armenian chess team wins at a major international forum. As a team Armenians won two consecutive world Chess Olympiads in 2006 and 2008.

Gabriel Sargissian, who played on the fourth board at the latest competitions in Ningbo, says the team members grew confident of the eventual overall victory already after the fifth round in which they beat the host nation China.

“The strongest were playing, but as we’ve had victories on many occasions, we have this winning mentality. It did not matter much who we were playing against, it was tougher near the end when we were closing in on the goal and knew that we must win,” says the young grandmaster.

Specialists say the success of Armenia’s chessmen is due to their team spirit.

“All for one and one for all – this is what characterizes the team. We had a family atmosphere, which is very important for any team participating in a competition. Everyone has a goal, wants to achieve something and all support each other,” explains coach Petrosian.

At the tournament in Ningbo Armenia’s other team members were Levon Aronian, FIDE’s current third highest ranked chess player competing on board #1, grandmasters Sergei Movsesian and Vladimir Akopian, on the second and third boards, respectively, and reserve player Robert Hovhannisyan.