He was a world championship candidate twice, losing out to Andrei Sokolov in 1986 and to Lajos Portisch in 1988. It is estimated that he has won in excess of thirty tournaments in all, and as recently as 2004, tied for first place in the Moscow's Aeroflot Open with Sergei Rublevsky and Valerij Filippov. In January 2005, his Elo rating briefly reached a 21st-century high at 2670, putting him back into the world's top 50, despite being in his mid-fifties. In 2019 Vaganian won the World Seniors' Championship in Bucharest, in the 65+ age category.