Lilit Mkrtchian (2) – How to prepare against your first tournament opponent and succeed
with Lilit Mkrtchian
So how do you prepare for a tournament with ChessBase, Fritz and the Megagdatabase?
We too wanted to know the answer to this question and asked a professional chess player. In our six-part series, Lilit Mkrtchian guides us through tournament preparation, showing us how to build an opening repertoire, sharpening your skills with tactical training, and giving us many more tips, tricks, ideas, and inspiration.
In this walkthrough, we’ll take a look over Lilit’s shoulder and discover her repertoire, opponent setups, and we’ll certainly analyze some of her played games in depth.
Of course, we also address the moment when you know your next opponent and can catch him with your well-aimed preparation. The Armenian IM will show us some examples of how this worked well.
A nice guide on how your The next tournament may be more successful.
- 0:20 – How many days before a tournament should you arrive?
- 1:57 – What happens if you sleep terribly before the first game?
- 4:04 – What is your next step after knowing your first opponent to play against?
- 5:37 – Her first opponent at the European Championships was Filipa Fortuna Pipiras.
- 6:45 – Any tips on how to play a young and maybe talented player?
- 8:03 – How do you prepare for your opponent in the hotel room now?
- 8:55 – 1. Look for your opponent.
- 9:45 – 2. Prepare against white/black
- 10:30 a.m – The more games they played, the better it is for us.
- 11:12 – She prefers 1.d4, does that fact alone help with your approach?
- 11:44 – 3. I compare my openings with their games in the megadatabase.
- 12:30 p.m – 4. I want to surprise you with a new opening!
- 13:51 – 5. The surprise actually worked in this case.
- 14:53 – FULL ANALYSIS: Filipa Pipiras vs. Lilit Mkrtchian (Prague, 2022)
Lilit Mkrtchian is an international champion from Armenia and received the IM title in 2003.
She was one of the best players in the world in the 2010s and has represented her national team at the Olympics since 1996.
In 2003 she won the gold medal with her Armenian team at the European Women’s Championships in Bulgaria, Plovdiv.
In addition, Mkrtchian won the Armenian Women’s Chess Champion four times.
In 2015, IM won the individual gold medal on board two at the World Women’s Team Championships in China, Chengdu.
She remains one of the strongest chess players in Armenia, coaches several students and is an active player in chess leagues and tournaments.
We interviewed Lilit in 2020 as part of our series “The best in”
Lilit lives with her husband in Germany and enjoys chess almost every day.