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A student of the 6th grade of secondary school No. 41.Turkmenabat Yhlas Narimanov won a silver medal in the individual competition within the framework of the World Chess Team Championship among schools, which ended on August 7 in Aktau, Kazakhstan.

Playing at the 2nd board in the team of his school in the under-12 category, Yhlad showed a "performance rating" (level of play) of 87.5% and, losing only to Ukrainian Stanislav Pentsko (93.8%), finished the tournament in 2nd place in the individual standings.

In the team competition in the same category up to 12 years, the team of Turkmenabat school No. 41 with 9 team points out of 16 possible finished in 11th place out of 27 teams. And this is despite a solid handicap, with which, unfortunately, Turkmen schoolchildren had to perform due to the non-arrival of one of the team's players due to the visa situation that arose due to a human error of one of the organizers.

And playing with three players in a tournament where four boards are provided is a significant handicap, as even a fan who is not knowledgeable in chess can guess. However, both Yhlas and two other team members – Didar Baltayev (1st board) and Lachyn Achyldyyeva (3rd board) fought worthily for their under-traveled partner - Aman Jumaev. And Yhlas even dedicated his silver medal to his partner Aman.

Velammal MHS Mogappair school from Chennai, India, the birthplace of the 15th world champion Viswanathan Anand, became the world champion in the under-12 team competition. Schoolchildren from Lviv Academic Gymnasium (Ukraine) rose to the second step of the podium, and the team of the Republican Physics and Mathematics School of Almaty (Kazakhstan) finished the tournament in third place.

It is noteworthy that in the under-18 category Turkmenistan was represented by the team of the same 41st school, which, like the junior team, took first place at the Turkmenistan Championship among school teams a month earlier, which this year was held for the first time in the history of independent Turkmenistan.

By the way, the World Championship in Aktau itself was the first world championship in the history of chess among school teams under the auspices of the International Chess Federation (FIDE).

So, three boys and one girl from Turkmenistan also took 17th place out of 43 teams participating in the senior category with 9 points out of 16 possible. The undisputed champions here were high school students from the Istanbul private school ENKA, who showed a 100 percent result – 16 points. On the second line – the same Almaty "physical math school" (12 points), and another Chennai school from the network of schools "Velammal" closed the prize three.

It is important to note that the average age of the members of the senior team of school No. 41 does not even reach 15 years, which suggests that over the next few years the guys can continue to perform in the same composition, which will undoubtedly still progress and improve tournament performance. Recall that the current national champion under the age of 16, Sanjar Gaybullayev (15 years old), the current national champion under the age of 14, Gurbanmyrat Rustemov (13 years old), who had not previously competed in official competitions, Begench Artykov (16 years old) and the silver medalist of the recent Asian Championship among schoolgirls, competed in this category from the 41st school up to 15 years old Gulmira Seyilhanova (15 years old).

A prerequisite for participating teams was the presence of at least one girl in the team. About 350 schoolchildren from more than 50 countries from all continents gathered in Aktau to participate in the historical championship.

ORIENT news

Photo: provided by the Chess Federation of Turkmenistan