Turkmenistan citizens achieved a historic success — second place with six medals in the overall team standings – at the recently concluded 3rd Central Asian Youth Chess Championship under classical time control for players aged 8 to 18, held in Cholpon-Ata (Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan), The Turkmenistan: Golden age electronic newspaper reports.
The tournament brought together 425 young talented chess players from the region, competing in 12 categories for boys and girls under 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18 years.
Previously, Turkmen chess players could not compete on equal terms with representatives from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. The best achievement of our compatriots before this was third place last year at the Central Asian Championship, which was also held in Kyrgyzstan. And now, with 2 gold, 3 silver, and 1 bronze medals, they moved up a notch, conceding only the first place to Uzbekistan’s team with 16 medals, 6 of which were gold.
The highest awards in the Turkmenistan team were won by: among boys under 8 - 2nd-grade student of Ashgabat's 55th secondary school, Charyhekim Charyyev, who scored 8 points out of 9; and among girls under 8 - 3rd-grade student of secondary school No. 25 in Mary, Anna Charyyeva, with a result of 7.5 points out of 9. Charyhekim trains in the capital’s "Kusht Alemi" academy under coach Ashyr Ashyrov, while Anna trains at Sports School No. 1 in Mary under Ejegyz Yalkanova.
Silver medalists included Maksat Avliyakuliyev from Lebap, in the category of boys under 10 with a score of 7.5 out of 9, Alyhan Batyrov from Mary region in boys under 12 (7 out of 9), and Jahan Rejepova from Lebap region in girls under 16 (7.5 out of 9). The bronze medal was awarded to Nebahat Muradova from Lebap in girls under 14 with a score of 6 out of 9.
Remarkably, behind Turkmenistan in the overall team standings were the teams of Kyrgyzstan with 2 gold and 4 bronze medals, Kazakhstan (1 gold and 5 silver), and Tajikistan (1 gold and 1 bronze). Moreover, our team was represented by the smallest number of participants – only 15 players, 6 of whom became medalists, which speaks to the high productivity of Turkmen athletes. The largest team, as expected, was Kyrgyzstan with 192 participants. Uzbekistan fielded 129 top players, Kazakhstan 72 and Tajikistan 17.
It should be added that at the current Central Asian Championship, following the decision of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), direct sports titles were awarded for the first time, up to the title of International Master in the under-18 category. All medalists from Turkmenistan received the title of FIDE Candidate Master, and Jahan Rejepova was awarded the title of Woman FIDE Master.
