STAVROPOL. – Armenian school student Ara Beglaryan surprised everyone during the blitz chess championship being held in Kislovodsk, Russia, as he defeated Grandmaster Alexander Lastin, Russia’s 2004 chess champion.     

Sixteen-year-old Beglaryan, however, became third, but since the grand prize was intended for school-age participants, he was declared the grand prize winner, reported Stavropolskaya Pravda newspaper.