The International Chess Festival Basket Open 2023, which was held in Ankara, Turkey, from August 15 to 20, gathered more than 600 participants from 8 countries.

Adults competed in four categories (tournaments A, B, C, D), and children in three categories (up to 10, 12, 14 years).

Our compatriot - international grandmaster Meylis Annaberdiyev (rating 2482) also took part in Tournament A, where the strongest participants of the festival competed.

After losing in the 2nd round, Meilis was able to pull himself together and showed a decent result, spending the rest of the tournament without losing (4 wins and 3 draws). As a result, with 6.5 points out of 9 possible, Meilis took second place, losing only to an athlete from Georgia, international master Nikoloz Petriashvili (rating 2458), who scored 7.5 points out of 9 possible.

68 chess players took part in the tournament among children under 10 years old. In this category, Turkmenistan was represented by the wards of international grandmaster Maksat Atabayev - brothers Osman and Omar Hamrakuliyevs. The senior, 10-year-old Osman, held the tournament at the highest level, scoring 7.5 points out of 9 possible and took first place.

The Baskent Open Festival was held this year for the 6th time, it is organized jointly by the University of Bashkent and the Turkish Chess Federation. The total prize fund of the tournament was 350 thousand Turkish lira.

ORIENT news