Varuzhan Eduardovich Akobian is an Armenian-American chess Grandmaster. Born in Yerevan, Armenia in 1983, he moved to the United States in 2001, and earned his Grandmaster title in 2004. Akobian has won the World Open tournament twice, in 2002 and 2004, and the U.S. Junior Closed Championship in 2002 and 2004 as well.
Akobian earned third place in the 2003 World Junior Championship, and represented the U.S. in four World Team Championships (2009, 2011, 2013, 2015) helping earn silver in 2006 and bronze in 2008. He was part of the U.S. team that won the gold medal in the 2016 Chess Olympiad.
Akobian was the Samford Chess Fellowship recipient in 2006, which aims to promote American chess talents towards becoming World Champions. He also instructs through Internet Chess Club on openings, tactics, endgames, and strategy, and has worked as a trainer for the U.S. Women's team during their silver medal-winning performance in 2004, 2008, and 2012 World Chess Olympiads.
In 2012, he won the 24th Metropolitan Invitational, and became the 2014 U.S. Championship runner-up after losing a playoff to fellow GM Gata Kamsky. Despite his many accomplishments, it wasn't until 2020 he won his first game in a U.S. Chess Championship against GM Ray Robson.