19-year-old Master of Sports Vepaly Halynyyazov (FIDE rating – 2115) became the chess champion of Turkmenistan. This success was achieved for the first time by the 2nd year student of the Turkmen State Institute of Architecture and Civil Engineering, who won the open category of the major league with the best result – 7.5 points out of 11 possible.
Vepaly began playing chess at the 13th sports school of Turkmenistan with coach Guljahan Ovlyakulyyeva. For the last 2 years, he has been improving his game at the Ashgabat specialized chess and checkers school under the guidance of Aynur Isayeva. Last year, at the 45th World Chess Olympiad in Budapest (Hungary), he won a small gold medal in Group «B» as part of the men's team of Turkmenistan, which ultimately took 24th place among 188 teams in the overall standings.
The Turkmenistan Championship was held for 10 days in the Ashgabat Specialised Chess and Checkers School with the participation of 12 contenders for the chess crown, who determined the champion and prize winners in games among themselves in a single round.
In the open category, previously traditionally known as the men's category, in recent years the participation of representatives of the fair sex has been allowed and even encouraged.
This year, the only girl in the male cohort challenged the strong half of humanity - 19-year-old FIDE master, student of the International University of Oil and Gas Lala Shohradova (rating - 2025), who won the right to participate in the «men's» major league thanks to her victory a month earlier in the open category of the first league in Mary. Thanks to her high rating and compliance with other requirements of the chess federation, she also secured a place in the national women's team without having to go through the selection through the women's major league.
The intrigue of the open tournament and the chances of the 2023 national women's champion for the «men's» championship title remained until the last round. A round before the finish, Lala Shohradova, who was in first place, lost to her mentor, the playing head coach of the women's team of Turkmenistan, candidate for master of sports Shahruh Turayev, in the decisive match and with 7 points dropped to second place, while overtaking three pursuers with the same number of points by additional coefficient. Shahruh Turayev himself finished in 3rd place, losing to his student by additional indicators.
All the winners have earned the right to represent Turkmenistan at the upcoming international tournaments, including competitions in Kazakhstan and the UAE. In addition to them, the team includes Grandmaster Meylis Annaberdiyev (2449) with the highest FIDE rating and Saparmyrat Atabayev (2516), who recently achieved his last Grandmaster rating.
Leading coaches and experts agree that this year's Open Category tournament was one of the most exciting and competitive. The top five players were separated by only half a point. The first place winner lost 1/3 of his points (3.5 out of 11), and the first and last 12th place winners were separated by only 4.5 points. It is noteworthy that the oldest player was 70-year-old International Master Karen Grigoryan, who, despite his advanced age in chess, performed well, taking 9th place among 12 players with 4.5 points out of 11.
Earlier, it was reported about the sensational victory of 14-year-old schoolgirl from Turkmenabat Jahan Rejepova in the women's championship of Turkmenistan, who became the youngest champion of the country in the history of Turkmen chess.
Commenting on the results of the open and women's categories, the chairman of the Chess Federation of Turkmenistan Vepa Malikgulyyev noted that the federation's strategy for developing younger chess players is bearing fruit - the average age of the participants in the major league is decreasing, the champions are «getting younger» and the gap in the level of play between the main «five» of the national team and the «second tier» players is decreasing. And competition in sports inevitably leads to progress.
It remains to add that the organization of the major league tournaments was supported by the chess academy «Küşt Älemi», the marketing agency «Yasyl» and other partners of the SCF.
