Turkmen chess players won gold, silver and bronze medals at the recently concluded Western Asian Junior Championship under 20 years old, held in Colombo (Sri Lanka). The tournament gathered 110 athletes from 9 countries, competing in three types of chess — classical, rapid, and blitz.
The highest honor in the Turkmenistan team was awarded to Leyla Shokhradova (WCM TKM, rating 1960), a graduate of Secondary School No. 31 in Danev etrap of Lebap velayat. She achieved this success in the rapid tournament. After 7 rounds, Leyla scored 6.5 points, surpassing Sri Reddy Kirti (India), who took second place by half a point, and K M Daamadi Sanudula (Sri Lanka), who completed the podium with one point less.
Leyla’s elder sister, Lala Shokhradova, a student at the International Oil and Gas University, won the silver medal in the classical control category, reflecting her high level of chess mastery. In nine games, she scored 7 points, earning her first point towards the FIDE Woman International Master (WIM) title. First place with 8.5 points was taken by Galina Mikheeva, competing under the FIDE flag from Russia, while third place went to Saranya Devi from India with 6.5 points.
Amanmuhammet Hommadov, a first-year student at the Turkmen State Institute of Physical Culture and Sports, won the bronze medal with a score of 7 out of 9 points in the classical tournament among juniors. He fulfilled the FIDE Master norm and added one point towards the requirements for the International Master (IM) title. Gold in this category was won by Russian Konstantin Popov with 7.5 points. Silver went to Asman Bayantas (Kazakhstan), who also scored 7 points but edged out Hommadov on tiebreaks.
Lala Shokhradova and Amanmuhammet Hommadov train under Turkmenistan’s honored coach Serdar Annaberdiyev. Leyla Shokhradova trains with the Turkmenistan women's national team under the guidance of head coach Shakhrukh Turaev.
The Turkmenistan team took second place in the unofficial team standings. First place went to the Russian team competing under the FIDE flag. Representatives of India took the third place on the podium.
Thus, the individual results of Turkmen chess players, both in younger and older age groups, as well as the “golden” achievements of the men’s and women’s national teams in their divisions at the recent Chess Olympiad in Budapest, testify to the dynamic development of the chess movement in Turkmenistan.
