The first stage of the Grand Prix chess tournament, a completely new tournament organized by the Chess Federation of Turkmenistan, has started in Ashgabat. This unique competition, which began on March 17, is attended by 127 players: 83 in the open category and 44 in the women's category.
The series of six tournaments is held in a classic format, will cover all five velayats of Turkmenistan and will be held in five cities: Ashgabat, Turkmenbashi, Dashoguz, Turkmenabat and Mary. The Ashgabat stage marked the start of this prestigious competition series. The final stage will also be held in the capital.
The main goal of the Grand Prix series is to provide chess players from all over the country with top-class game practice and create various opportunities to get into the top league, thereby stimulating the development and popularization of chess in our country.
For the first time: online broadcast of games from the tournament
The peculiarity of the tournament is that it is from this tournament that the online broadcast of games in real time begins in the chess history of Turkmenistan. Each move that chess players make at the board is immediately, with the help of special sensors built into the chess pieces and the board, converted into digital format and transmitted to online platforms using the DGT LiveChess application.
Chess fans, professionals and just spectators from all over the world can watch every move, analyze the opponents' play, empathize and enjoy exciting games. Moreover, you can watch the clock indicators, i.e. the minutes and seconds remaining for each player, after each move, which adds additional intrigue to chess fans.
The Lichess platform, through which the broadcast of this tournament is conducted, is considered the most popular among chess fans for watching games of various tournaments from all over the world live.
As part of the broadcast from the current tournament, 7 boards are presented in the open category and 3 boards in the women's category, which will allow viewers to follow intense matches and support their favorites. However, the joint plans of the Chess Federation and the Ashgabat Specialized Chess and Checkers School are to increase the number of boards for simultaneous broadcast.
The Dutch company DGT, a manufacturer of specialized chess equipment for online broadcasting, and the leading Turkmen IT company Imdat Elektronika also assist in the implementation of these technical tasks.
The Chess Federation believes that this technical innovation is another step towards turning chess into a real spectacular sport for a wide range of fans.
Based on the results of the entire series of Grand Prix tournaments, 16 best players in each category will be determined, who will advance to the final stage of the playoffs, where they will play knockout games. The winners in both categories will receive direct tickets to the 2026 Turkmenistan Premier League, where the national team will be formed.
Links to the tournament broadcasts:
Open category: https://lichess.org/broadcast/gran-pri-tkf-ashgabat-open/round-1/K58aXeBU
Women's category: https://lichess.org/broadcast/gran-pri-tkf-ashgabat-women/round-1/INot86xN
And you can follow the results of the games, the tournament table on Chess results at this link: https://chess-results.com/tnr1137131.aspx?lan=11
The Ashgabat stage of the Grand Prix series will end on March 21.
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