March 1 and the first exciting Lightning chess tournament in Ashgabat, organized by the French Institute and the Chess Federation of Turkmenistan.

The competition, which took place in the cozy atmosphere of the institute, was attended by 40 players, including schoolchildren, students and chess enthusiasts from all over the city. The tournament was held in 7 rounds according to the so-called Swiss system, and each player was given 5 minutes to play with an increment of 3 seconds per move. Participation in the tournament was free, which allowed many people to demonstrate their skills at the chessboard in a real tournament atmosphere.

Following a tense struggle, the winner of the tournament was Serdar Altiyev, a chess enthusiast who mainly plays this exciting game through popular online applications. Interestingly, for Serdar, this tournament was the very first in his life. Second place went to young schoolboy Kirill Melikhov, and the bronze medal was won by lawyer by profession Maisa Yazyeva.

Separate prizes were awarded to Meryem Yazmuradova for the best result among girls and Artem Kolosov for the best result among players under 12.

Particular attention was drawn to the participation of Livanur Berdiyeva, known as the “calculator girl”. This modest young girl is a master of mental arithmetic, who became the first participant from Turkmenistan in the TV show “Amazing People” on the Russia 1 channel in 2024. Livanur’s participation in the chess tournament added a special twist and inspired many young players.

The tournament was held with the support of the Chess Academy “Küşt Älemi”, the bookstore “Readit”, the “Belle” application and the media platform Orient.tm.

Detailed statistics of the tournament are available at the link

ORIENT