International Grandmaster from Turkmenistan Meylis Annaberdiyev took first place at the 9th Mersin Metropolitan Municipality International Open Chess Tournament, which concluded in Türkiye.
The competition was held according to the Swiss system over 9 rounds and brought together 360 chess players from 19 countries, who competed for prizes in four categories.
Meylis Annaberdiyev (FIDE rating – 2407) became the winner in the top “A” category, which featured about 50 chess players from 12 countries, including 7 International Grandmasters (one of them a woman), 3 International Masters, and 10 FIDE Masters.
Our compatriot collected 7 points, having scored 5 wins and 4 draws in nine games—drawing with opponents seeded in the top five. The same number of points was earned by International Master Arash Tahbaz (Iran, 2468). As a result, the winner had to be determined by tiebreaks, which were more favorable for Meylis. The top three was rounded out by International Grandmaster Aryan Gholami from Iran (FIDE rating – 2468), who scored 6.5 points. Seeded first, Azerbaijani Grandmaster Vugar Rasulov (FIDE rating – 2525) finished in 5th place.
Meylis Annaberdiyev, who will turn 40 on November 24, is one of Turkmenistan’s well-known chess players. He became interested in chess at the age of 7 thanks to his older brother, Serdar Annaberdiyev, who was his first and remains his only coach. This year, Honored Coach of Turkmenistan S. Annaberdiyev—who simultaneously serves as head coach of the national youth team—turned 50.
In 2017, at the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games held in Ashgabat, Meylis Annaberdiyev won a bronze medal as part of the Turkmenistan team in rapid chess.
Today, he is also an active player of the Turkmenistan men’s national team, which last year earned small gold medals in Group “B” at the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Budapest (Hungary). It is noteworthy that Meylis delivered the best performance on our team, scoring 7 points out of a possible 11 on board two.
This year, M. Annaberdiyev won a silver medal at an international tournament held in Cappadocia (Türkiye). And now he has achieved gold at the tournament in Mersin, receiving a cash prize of 150,000 Turkish lira (more than $3,500 at the current exchange rate).
turkmenistan.gov.tm
