On one of the most significant and beloved holidays of the East — International Day of Novruz — the first stage of the new chess tournament of the Turkmenistan Grand Prix ended in the capital's Chess and Checkers School.

This tournament is a series of six stages covering all five velayats of Turkmenistan, and its final with knockout games will also be held in Ashgabat. The first stage, which started on March 17, brought together 130 participants: 86 in the open category and 44 in the women's category. At the moment, the players are gaining important points for the overall standings.

Surprises in the Women's Category

The women's category of the tournament was won by Enesh Arazmedova (FIDE rating - 1811), gold medalist of the 2024 World Chess Olympiad in Budapest in category "C". Despite the fact that Enesh started the competition as the sixth seed, she managed to get ahead of more experienced rivals and win first place with 7.5 points, which allowed her to increase her rating by 96 points. She trains under the guidance of Honored Coach of Turkmenistan Serdar Annaberdiev.

The second place with 7 points was taken by Gulmira Seyilkhanova (rating 1926), an 11th-grader of Secondary School No. 41 in Turkmenabat.

Third place was shared by four chess players with 6.5 points, but the bronze medal for additional indicators was received by Byagul Ezizova (rating 1939), a candidate for FIDE master, who is currently also training with Serdar Annaberdiev.

The young chess players competed with dignity with their older rivals. Among the cadets, Aya Bayramova (6th place, 6.5 points), Nurana Soyunova (7th place, 6 points), and Dilber Khupbyeva (9th place, 6 points) distinguished themselves.

Nurana Soyunova's rating improvement was especially impressive, adding 126 points. The head coach of the women's team of Turkmenistan, Shakhrukh Turaev, pins his hopes on the future performances of these girls in international tournaments.

Tournament Innovations: Real-Time Online Broadcast

One of the tournament's striking innovations is the introduction of real-time online broadcasting of games, which has become a real step forward for chess in Turkmenistan. In the test mode, 7 boards were presented in the open category and 3 boards in the women's category.

This was made possible thanks to cooperation with the Dutch company DGT, a manufacturer of specialized chess equipment, and the leading Turkmen IT company "Imdat Elektronika".

Open category: Khommadov dominates

In the open category of the tournament, gold was won by Amanmukhammet Khommadov (rating 2251), a student of the Turkmen State Institute of Physical Education and Sports. The protégé of Serdar Annaberdiev scored 8 points out of 9 possible, without losing a single time – 7 wins and 2 draws.

The fight for silver and bronze in this category was tense, as four players scored 7 points each, and the fate of the medals was decided by coefficients.

Silver went to Lale Shokhradova (rating 2137), a student of the International University of Oil and Gas.

Bronze was won by Serdar Bayramov (rating 1998), a student of Secondary School No. 31 in Turkmenabad.

Jahan Rejepova, the champion of the 2025 Major League in the women's category, scored 6.5 points and took 7th place among 86 participants.

The tournament was organized with the support of the Chess Academy "Küşt Älemi", the company "TurkmenExpo", the application "Belle" and the media platform Orient.tm.

Full results of the tournament can be found at the following link: https://chess-results.com/tnr1137131.aspx?lan=11&art=4

The next stage of the Grand Prix of Turkmenistan is planned for May this year in Balkan velayat, the Chess Federation reported.

ORIENT