A Day in the Life of Chessmaster Minas Nordanyan (Summer 08)

Mary Kandaharian
kandaharian88@ucla.edu

Be the chess player not the chess piece. Minas Nordanyan, 22, certainly falls under the category of the chess player and a really good one at that. He is a 2007 UCLA graduate with a major in Economics and a minor in Accounting. He not only uses his strategies in chess but in life as well. Minas started playing chess at the age of six.

His mother first introduced him to the world of chess by taking him to the All American Association Chess club, formerly known as Armenia Chess Club, run by Nshan Keshishian.
"My motivation for chess is weird, I never really asked to be taught chess," Minas said, "My mom tells me that she insisted on taking me to chess, because she had loved the game in Armenia but never got the chance to play herself."

However, after just a few games, he became addicted and it all escalated from there. National Champion 4 times, State Champion 12 times in his age group and having participated in national championships all over the United States, from upstate New York to Florida to Arizona and cities in between, Minas has put his name on the map as one of the greatest players not only in his age group but among professional chess players in general.

His most memorable tournaments include his very first one, which he won, and his tenth grade national championship. "The pressure of performing well when all your friends, coaches and random spectators are watching your every move was something I would never forget," Minas said.

His role models include some of the older guys in his chess team, namely Harut Akopyan, who still holds the record for most scholastic national titles. Minas also comments on his teachers saying, "They were not only great teachers, but great people."

Minas’s mentors in chess and the game itself taught him more than what was needed to succeed on the chessboard. Chess definitely helps in schoolwork. Minas jokes how "I wish it would help me more in English than it did in math" but overall it stimulates the brain and that in turn helps with everything across the board.

Chess requires an analytical mind and a great amount of focus. "If you make the slightest mistake, it usually results in you losing and one thing that I have realized in myself is that I don’t like losing."

He has successfully avoided losses by his many strategies he has up his sleeve. When asked to reveal one he responded, "If I write actual strategies, 80 percent of the people wouldn’t know what it means. But as a general rule, try to control the center, develop your pieces towards the center and make sure your kings safe."

The most important lesson Minas has learned through his lifelong involvement in chess is to always be thinking ahead as good chess players can anticipate what’s going to happen. Minas utilizes these strategies not only in his ‘chess world’ but in his everyday life as well.
Checkmate…leaving him as the only king standing on the chessboard of life.