Turkmen grandmaster Meylis Annaberdiyev won a convincing victory at the prestigious 5th Rigo Janos Memorial GM-B International chess tournament, which concluded in the Hungarian resort town of Balatonlelle.
The tournament was held in a round-robin format with a time control of 90 minutes with an increment of 30 seconds per move and was included in the official FIDE calendar with international rating calculation. Ten titled chess players from Hungary, Belarus, Greece, India, Poland and Turkmenistan took part in the competition, and the average rating of the GM group participants was around 2400–2450 points.
In the face of serious competition, M. Annaberdiyev (FIDE rating 2415) scored 6 points out of 9 possible and confidently took first place in the final tournament table. This success allowed the Turkmen chess player not only to win a gold medal, but also to add 12.1 points to his international rating, which was the best increase among the tournament leaders.
Second and third places were shared by representatives of Hungary. International Master Agoston Juhasz won silver with 5.5 points, while International master Bendeguz Bodrogi, who finished third, lost to his compatriot on additional points.
The János Rigo Memorial was established in 2022 in honor of the famous Hungarian chess figure, international master and arbiter. Traditionally, these competitions attract a strong lineup of participants – grandmasters and international masters, whose average rating exceeds 2400.
Meylis Annaberdiyev is rightfully considered one of the strongest chess players in the history of independent Turkmenistan. The international grandmaster grew up in a famous chess family. His mentor and only coach is the honoured coach of Turkmenistan Serdar Annaberdiyev. The personal achievements of grandmaster include a bronze medal in the team rapid event at the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, gold in the «B» category as part of the national team at the 45th World Chess Olympiad in Budapest, as well as top awards at major international tournaments in Türkiye, including victory at the 2025 Mersin International Open, silver at the 2025 Cappadocia Open and the 2022 Başkent University Open.
Recent success of Meylis Annaberdiyev in Hungary marks another significant contribution to the development of intellectual sports in Turkmenistan and further confirmation of the high level of the Turkmen chess school.
