Serzh Sargsyan attends opening ceremony of What? Where? When? world championship

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan attended the opening ceremony of the 14th world championship of the What? Where? When? Intellectual game in the resort town of Tsakhkadzor, Armenia. Around 400 intellectuals from 23 countries are taking part in the championship.

The event has been organized by the World Association of Clubs and is held under the high patronage of the President.

The championship is being held in Armenia for the first time. Famous intellectuals Maxim Potashov, Alexander Drouze, Alexander Rubin, Andrei Kozlov and others are taking part in the championship.

Armenia is represented by five teams in the championship.

The world championships of the intellectual game have previously been held in Russia, Israel, Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan.

Prior to the launch of the event, President Sargsyan has a brief meeting with the teams.

The President delivered opening remarks at the launch of the 14th world championship, saying:

“Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,

Distinguished organizers of the world championship, participants,

I sincerely welcome you in Armenia. I am very happy that the 14th world championship is being held in our country. There are many familiar faces in this hall. We haven’t had the chance to meet personally in the past, but I know many of you, since I am a longtime fan of the What? Where? When? intellectual game.

In my little birthplace – in Karabakh, we were watching with great attention that amazing TV program, just like in other numerous regions of the Soviet Union. That way, not only were we following your appealing game, but were also getting informed about newly published books.

The What? Where? When? intellectual game is very popular today in Armenia. I am grateful to you for spreading knowledge and interest towards mankind’s achievements through your game.

I am convinced, that the biggest and most important resource of any country are the people. People, who study and create, dream and struggle and make this world better.

The tension, with which you seek the correct answer in the presence of everyone, deserves deepest respect. That’s an excellent example for the younger generation. We want the Armenian youth to be sure that all problems are solvable, it simply takes consistent, collective, tense and rational work.

Allow me to once again warmly welcome all of you in one of the beautiful corners of our country – the splendid Tsakhkadzor. I hope that you will not only play tense, perhaps I made a mistake – not only will you compete tense, but you will also get to know our country, Armenia’s history and culture. If you like it, we will gladly host both the 15th and 16th championships.

I wish all of you good mood and success.

Let the strongest win in a fair struggle.

You know, few years ago, when we introduced chess in the mandatory school program, of course we had many arguments, but I very much liked the argument of one of the renowned chess players, Olympic Champion Smbat Lputyan. He said, chess teaches to win fairly and lose fairly. I would really like this opinion to be correct for this game also.

Thank you.”