In the FIDE chess federation ranking published on February 1, the women's national team of Turkmenistan has rapidly risen by 40 positions, namely from 96th to 56th place. This leap was due to the active participation of leading Turkmen chess players in official tournaments, both national and international.

In particular, over the past two months, the number of women with an active international rating has increased almost 3 times from 9 to 26, and the average rating of the top ten athletes – from 1614 to 1940. This was due to the holding and calculation of ratings at such tournaments as the women's championships of Turkmenistan (the first league in December 2022 and the championship among juniors in January 2023), as well as the more active participation of the fair sex in traditionally male competitions.

For example, the current national champion Jemal Ovezdurdyyeva and the winner of the women's first league and the champion among juniors Meryem Agadzhanova have significantly improved their ratings over the past two months.

But this is not the limit. The chess players of Turkmenistan continue to increase their skills. This week, the Top League of the Turkmenistan Women's Championship was launched, at which the women's national team of the country will be determined from among 14 athletes.

To date, after four days of competition, Jemal Ovezdurdyyeva is leading with 3.5 points out of 4 possible, followed by Lala and Leyla Shokhradova, Ogulsuray Bayrambayeva and Meryem Agadzhanova with 3 points in the piggy bank.

The men were also able to slightly improve their positions in the world ranking, rising one step from 67th to 66th position. Here we can note a noticeable jump in the rating of Yusup Atabayev, which has now reached the level of 2516.

The Chess Federation of Turkmenistan comments that a course has been taken to hold a large number of open tournaments with a rating calculation, which affects a higher level of competition both at the competitions themselves and the high motivation of athletes in the training process.

ORIENT news