Turkmenistan citizens achieved a historic success — second place with six medals in the overall team standings — at the recently concluded 3rd Central Asian Chess Championship under classical time control for players aged 8 to 18, held in Cholpon-Ata (Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan).
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, Charykhekim Charyyev, who scored 8 points out of 9; and among girls under 8 - 3rd-grade student of secondary school No. 25 in Mary, Anna Charyeva, with a result of 7.5 points out of 9. Charykhekim 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 Avliyakuliev from Lebap, in the category of boys under 10 with a score of 7.5 out of 9, Alihan Batyrov from Mary velayat in boys under 12 (7 out of 9), and Jahan Rejepova from Lebap velayat in girls under 16 (7.5 out of 9). The bronze medal was awarded to Nebahat Myradova from Lebap in girls under 14 with a score of 6 out of 9.
It is also worth noting those who narrowly missed the podium: Lyale Vepaeva (under 10, 6 points out of 9) and Ali Akhmedov (under 14, 6 points out of 9), both finishing in 4th place.
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.
The Issyk-Kul results prove that the brilliant performance of young Turkmen chess players at the recent international tournament in Ashgabat, where our chess players aged 8 to 12 took first place in the overall team standings among 11 countries, was no accident.
“Children's chess in Turkmenistan has grown to the point where we now strive not just for any medals in individual categories, but target top honors in many categories, as well as high overall team prizes at regional, continental, and some world championships. Therefore, the second place overall at the Central Asian Championship — a region already recognized as one of the leaders in world chess — is an especially meaningful result for us,” commented the president of the Chess Federation of Turkmenistan, Vepa Myalikguliyev.
According to him, a new very important phase is beginning in Turkmen chess — increasing competitiveness at the youth level — ages 12 to 16. At this level, the enthusiasm of children’s coaches and the large number of internal and international tournaments must be complemented by systematic work of state chess schools with properly organized methodological work aimed at further improving young talents' skills on a deeper, more fundamental level of chess understanding, alongside continuous professional development of coaches. In this regard, it is important not to weaken the good pace of children’s chess development at the next age level, and for this, it is necessary to continue enhancing the methodological base in chess schools.
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.
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