At the Turkmenistan Chess Championship among boys and girls in Ashgabat on February 8, a tournament with classical time control up to 14, 16 and 18 years ended, where 6 sets of medals were played.

As expected, the students from the Lebap chess school clearly dominated their peers from other regions of the country, ultimately winning four out of six gold medals. For example, Lebap girls won a landslide victory in all women’s categories and commented on the results in the Chess Federation of Turkmenistan.

Among girls under 16, the current national champion in the under 17 category, Gulmira Seilkhanova, won all her games without any problems (9 points out of 9 possible) and was two points ahead of her closest competitor, the second-placed Myahri Aimakova, who also represents Lebap. And in third place with 6 points was a schoolgirl from the Mary region, Jennet Yalkanova.

And in the category of girls under 14 years old, representatives of Lebap took the entire podium. The fight for the gold medal was led by Jahan Redjepova and Myahri Agamuradova, who had previously become national champions. In a bitter struggle, Jahan Rejepova became the winner with 8.5 points, and Myakhri, who was half a point behind, had to be content with second place. Rounding out the top three was 12-year-old Nurkhan Babanazarova, who last week also entered the top three among girls under 12 years old.

Among the girls under 18, having seized sole leadership after the 3rd round, 17- year-old Leila Shohradova confidently brought the matter to victory and took first place with 7.5 points. Half a point behind was the two-time world champion at a young age, Byagul Ezizova, who after a long break actively returned to chess and was able to enter the top three in her age category. The champion and vice- champion of the women's major league of the last year, respectively, the FIDE master among women Lala Shohradova and the candidate for master of sports Meryem Agadzhanova, who scored 6.5 points, performed uncertainly. According to additional indicators, Lala took the third place.

In the category among boys under 16 years old, the main favorite of the tournament, who this year has already become the best among boys under 17 years old, schoolboy from Lebap Serdar Bayramov, had strong competition from Ashgabat resident Resul Begmuradov. Both players scored 7.5 points, but despite the negative result in the head-to-head meeting with Resul, according to additional indicators, Serdar again managed to climb to the highest step of the podium. Ilkhan Charyev, another student from Lebap, took the third place half a point behind the leaders.

Among the boys under 18 years old, as expected, a hot fight took place between two students of the Ashgabat chess and checkers school - Amanmuhammed Khommadov and Akhmed Gubataev. Having the same number of points throughout the tournament, Amanmuhammet and Akhmet took turns taking the leadership position only in additional indicators. As a result, after the 9th round, Amanmuhammet was on the top line, scoring 8 points, and ahead of Ahmed, who also scored 8 points, in additional indicators. The fate of the bronze medal also had to be decided based on additional indicators. Student from the Ahal region, Bayram Bayramov, who scored 6.5 points, took the third place.

In the category among boys under 14 years old, cadets performed successfully, i.e. younger recent participants of the championship under 12 years old, who won all three prizes here too. The first place with 8 points was taken by national champion among schoolchildren under 11 years old Alikhan Batyrov (Mary). National champion among schoolchildren under 13, Ali Akhmedov (Ashgabat), was half a point behind him and took the second place, and the third was another national champion under 12, Rauf Yusupov (Mary), who scored 7 points.

In the team competition, following the results of the “classics” tournament, schoolchildren from Lebap won 9 medals (4 of which were of the highest standard, 2 silver and 3 bronze). Young men from Ashgabat won 4 medals (1 gold and 3 silver). Mary chess players also won 4 medals (1 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze). The Ahal region won one bronze medal.

More than 200 participants took part in the classic time control tournament. On February 9, a rapid tournament began with a time control of 15 minutes + 10 seconds for each move. And on Saturday, February 10, blitz medals will be played out.

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