Vaganian Rafael Artemovich (15.10.1951)

Armenian Grandmaster (1971) living in Germany. Tied for the victory in the European Junior Championship in 1968-69. As a member of the youth team of the Soviet Union, became four times the winner of the World Youth Championships in the period 1972-77. He played 10 times in the USSR Championships, and his best results were in 1989 when he was crowned Champion and in 1975 when he was equal second with four others. In the Candidates’ Tournament in Montpellier in 1985, he shared first place with Yusupov and A. Sokolov, but lost the semifinals match to A. Sokolov by 2-6 in Minsk in 1986. In 1988, he qualified again for the Candidates’, but in the 1/8 final, he lost to Portisch by 2½-3½ in St. John. Performed well in numerous international tournaments and won or shared the victory in Brnjacka Banja 1971, Valencia and Kragujevac 1974, Hastings 1982-83, Moscow 1982, together with Tal, San Feliu 1975, Rome and Sao Paolo 1977, Kirovakan 1978, Las Palmas 1979, Manila 1981, Lvov 1984, equal with Dorfman, Naestved 1985, equal with Browne and Larsen, Biel 1985, Sochi 1986, Leningrad and Marcel 1987, Copenhagen, Esberg 1988. Reykjavik Open and Toronto 1990, Moscow and Portz 1991, Ter Appel 1992, Reggio and Ter Appel 1993, Reggio Emilia 1995. Played for the Soviet Team in the Olympiads of 1984 and 1986, played at board 5 in the match USSR vs the Rest of the World in 1984. Also, a member of the winning team that won the European Team Championships in 1980 and 1983. Six times, a member of the Armenian Team in the Olympiads since 1992 with a bronze medal for the team ranking in 2004 and a gold for the best individual performance at board 3 in 2004. Best ELO: 2670 in 2005.