After beating Hrant Melkumyan at the 8th roundTigran L. Petrosian leads Armenian men's chess championship with 5 points.

With 4,5 points, Melkumyan dropped to the 3rd place.

Robert Hovhannisyan, scoring a win over Karen Grigorian, comes 2nd with 5 points.

The 9th round pairings have been announced as follows: Tigran L. Petrosian- Hrayr Simonyan, Hrant Melkumyan- Levon Babujyan, Robert Hovhannisyan- Arman Pashikyan, Karen Grigorian-Artashes Minasyan, Zaven Andriasian- Samvel Ter-Sahakyan.

Winners of 1st-3rd places will gain an entry to 2013 Armenian Championship; winners of 1st-5th and 6th-8th places will qualify for European Individual Championship and Aeroflot Open respectively.