Karen Asrian

On 9 June 2008 the Chess Federation of Armenia reported that Asrian had died of a suspected heart attack while driving, which was confirmed the following day. His final Elo rating, in April 2008, was 2630.

On 9 June 2008, the Chess Federation of Armenia reported that Asrian had died of a heart attack while driving. Asrian, feeling ill, pulled his car into a courtyard in the Armenian capital of Yerevan on an early Monday and then lost consciousness. An ambulance crew pronounced him dead at the scene, possibly of a heart attack. A moment of silence was held in his memory before the opening of a speed-chess tournament in Yerevan on Monday, after his death was announced by Armenian chess player Smbat Lputian.

The Chess Giants Yerevan tournament was named such up until 2008. After the sudden and tragic death of Asrian on 9 June 2008, the same day the tournament began, the Chess Federation of Armenia decided to interrupt the event for a few days, and then rename it to the Karen Asrian Memorial, which will be its name in the future. Compatriot Levon Aronian won that same first Karen Asrian Memorial on 15 June. Asrian and Aronian had both been on the 37th Chess Olympiad gold medal-winning team.

In Armenia he became team champion in 2006 and 2007 with Bank King Yerevan. In Russia he played for South Ural Chelyabinsk in 2006 and 2007 and for the Chess Federation of Moscow in 2008. In the French first division, the Top 16, he played for Bischwiller in 2006/07 and 2007/08.

He won the Armenian Chess Championship in 1999, 2007, and 2008, and the Dubai 2001 and 2004 Tigran Petrosian Memorial tournaments. In 2006, Asrian competed on third board for the gold-medal winning Armenian team at the Chess Olympiad in Turin.

Asrian started playing chess in 1985, became an international master in 1997 and a grandmaster in 1998. He graduated from the Armenian State Institute of Physical Culture and Sport in 2001.

Karen Asrian (Armenian: Կարեն Ասրյան ; 24 April 1980 – 9 June 2008) was an Armenian chess player. Awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1998, he was a three-time Armenian champion. Asrian was a member of the gold medal-winning Armenian team in the 37th Chess Olympiad.