Adult improvers, rejoice. More than 15 years since earning her first IM norm in 2010, and more than a decade after earning her third and final, WGM Tatev Abrahamyan played the “best tournament of my career” at the Budapest One Week in Hungary. She went an undefeated 7.0/9 to finish first and also pad her pre-tournament rating of 2342 by a whopping 62 points. This ensured she had crossed 2400 for the first time.
Abrahamyan actually eclipsed the threshold, which she had come tantalizingly close to before, in the penultimate round with her win over local hero WGM Jovana Rapport. However, despite Abrahamyan’s career journey to the IM title being fulfilled, she couldn’t relax. In the final round, she still needed a half point for her first GM norm.
That came in the form of an uneventful draw with WGM Zsoka Gaal, who could also be happy with the split point as it also earned her final IM norm (she only two years old when Abrahamyan earned her first!). Gaal had previously crossed 2400 and has thus fulfilled all the requirements for IM herself.
Budapest One Week Final Standings
| Rk. | Title | Name | Rtg | FED | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Pts. |
| 1 | WGM | Tatev Abrahamyan | 2342 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 2 | IM | Adiga Sathvik | 2370 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 3 | IM | Agoston Juhasz | 2425 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5.5 | ||
| 4 | WGM | Zsoka Gaal | 2376 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5.5 | ||
| 5 | GM | Gabor Nagy | 2467 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 6 | FM | Peter Balint | 2415 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 7 | GM | David Berczes | 2435 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 3.5 | ||
| 8 | GM | Huynh Minh Huy Nguyen | 2431 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 3.5 | ||
| 9 | FM | Dingzhou Cong | 2315 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 3 | ||
| 10 | WGM | Jovana Rapport | 2299 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 2 | ||
Abrahamyan told Chess.com that since she began her event so far from 2400, as the tournament progressed, making the GM norm became her main focus even more than the rating threshold. “I didn’t think I could get so many points to cross 2400,” she said. In the end she got both the points and the norm, capping a great few months for women in chess:
I didn’t think I could get so many points to cross 2400.
—Tatev Abrahamyan
All the GM norms just since May! 😁
🇰🇿 Bibisara Assaubayeva (and title!)
🇺🇸 Carissa Yip
🇵🇱 Oliwia Kiołbasa
🇮🇳 Divya Deshmukh (and title!)
⬜️ Leya Garifullina
🇺🇸 Tatev Abrahamyan#chess #womeninchess https://t.co/KNMQqHKKfJ
— Women’s Chess Coverage (@OnTheQueenside) August 17, 2025
And to think, the end of her 15-year title odyssey almost didn’t happen. Abrahamyan, who lives in St. Louis, only added this event to her calendar because she couldn’t find any event to play in her favorite European country, Spain.
“I had already decided to play in Dortmund [Germany] beforehand and needed to find another event to justify a trip to Europe, as I wouldn’t go all the way for one event,” she told Chess.com. “It was actually pretty tough, because I had to fly out of Dortmund the day of the final round and start the tournament in Budapest the very next day.”
She gained a few rating points in Germany, too, and at the time of this writing, she is up to world number 38. This is her personal best; previously she has been as high as 66. Abrahamyan began the month outside the world’s top 100 women and is now in a virtual tie for USA number two with IM Alice Lee.
Abrahamyan said she expected a tough start as she played the tournament’s youngest players in the two opening rounds, but she won both. “I think one thing I did well in this event is controlling my nerves,” she said. “It’s something that I have always struggled with. The points were adding up quickly but I kept reminding myself that 7 points is a lot and one loss would put an end to the norm chase.”
Here’s her first-round winning tactic, where she found an elegant knight sortie that was both obstruction and taking advantage of an overworked black rook:
She followed up in the next round by playing her patented French Defense. Her wandering king made more than 20 moves to earn her a 2-0 start. Then she earned a win and two draws in her next three rounds, all against GMs.
It wasn’t until her win in round seven before she began seriously thinking the GM norm would be realistic. That victory came in the form of the “classic knight sacrifice on d5” in the Sicilian, which she played to perfection. [Ed: I might have to update the video on ChessKid.]
Despite the incredible start of 5.5/7, she still needed 1.5/2 for the norm and a few more rating points for the IM title. But sensing that Rapport was not having her best event, Abrahamyan eyeballed that round eight game as her key winning opportunity. After another French Defense (so fitting!) the IM title all came down to a technical endgame.
Although many players go norm-hunting in Budapest due to the constant supply of round-robins, she was going for the financial practicality, not necessarily the an eye to gaining 60 rating points.
“2400 wasn’t even on my radar,” she said. “I went to Europe hoping to pick up some rating points and to stay in shape. I wasn’t expecting to do as well as I did.”
2400 wasn’t even on my radar.
—Tatev Abrahamyan
Abrahamyan had previously reached 2397 in 2019 after earning all of her norms. She only needed a draw in the first round of her next event to eclipse 2400, her final requirement for the IM title. She lost, and things slid further from there as in the coming years she lost both more points and more desire. The longtime US Women’s National Team member eventually suffered from the same malaise many plateauing tournament players can relate to.
“After that tournament [where I was 2397], I played in Gibraltar where my rating stayed the same, then COVID happened, then I took a full time job with ChessUp and in general started to lose my motivation to play at all,” she said. “I was getting very little enjoyment from playing. At some point, my rating plummeted under 2300, so 2400 wasn’t something I was thinking about at all. I was mostly trying to find some motivation to play again.”
Sometimes motivation comes from within, and sometimes it comes from perhaps the best external person in all the land.
“I reached out to Judit Polgar before the tournament, hoping that we can meet in Budapest after the tournament was over. In the middle of the event, she confirmed that she had some free time to meet with me. That gave me so much motivation to do well.”
“When we met the day after the tournament ended, I was so excited to tell her about my good result. Sharing my happy news with her was such a great moment for me and she seemed so genuinely happy for me. We had tea and chatted about this and that for about an hour and it was just so wonderful.” Abrahamyan had previously called Polgar her “all time hero and idol.“
Sharing my happy news with her was such a great moment and she seemed so genuinely happy for me.
—Tatev Abrahamyan on meeting Judit Polgar
Abrahamyan wrote candidly about her struggles with the game in the most recent Chess Life cover story.
“I was ready to swear off chess,” she wrote in the lede of her article “Fighting Back” in the August, 2025 issue. She had a disappointing end of 2024 and wasn’t even sure she would be invited to the American Cup, which traditionally selects the top eight USA women to compete. Abrahamyan ended up making the finals and earned the biggest payday of her career. But perhaps most importantly, she felt at peace even after losing the final match.
“I wrote pretty candidly about how jaded I was feeling about my chess going into the American Cup,” she told Chess.com. “Of course, I was very happy about my result but I didn’t think it was an indication that I am suddenly playing well again. After a month or so, I decided that I need to play again and signed up for the National Open. I did well there too, gaining 18 rating points. After two back-to-back good results, I thought that maybe it’s not an accident after all, and I should play more this year.”
Abrahamyan is keeping busy. Besides playing more tournaments and writing articles, she also released a new Chessable course this year, which invites users to solve studies to improve.
Her GM norm also opens up the possibility that she could make a run at the Cairns Chess Queens Award, a $100,000USD prize given to any American women who makes grandmaster before July, 2029. Despite this lofty ambition and her tremendous first half of 2025, Abrahamyan is trying to stay in the moment.
“I also haven’t forgotten about the painful side of chess, how awful losses and bad tournaments can make you feel…I am trying to enjoy this moment for now before I think about chasing the next goal.”
Next up for Abrahamyan is the Southern California Open in her old hometown of Glendale, then the 2025 US Women’s Chess Championships. She’s never won the top USA women’s title, but then, she’s also never had a year like 2025.
