KAREN ASRIAN | CHESS CHAMPION, 28

Philadelphia Inquirer
June 12 2008
PA

Karen Asrian, 28, an Armenian chess grandmaster who was the former
Soviet nation’s reigning champion and helped it win the 2006 Chess
Olympiad, died suddenly Monday after losing consciousness. He was
ranked 92d by the World Chess Federation.

Apparently feeling ill, he pulled his car into a courtyard in the
capital, Yerevan, and lost consciousness, the federation said. An
ambulance crew pronounced him dead, it said.

A moment of silence was held before the opening of a speed-chess
tournament in Yerevan on Monday after his death was announced.