Ashgabat deserves to host international chess competitions of the highest rank. This opinion was expressed at the international chess tournament "Ashgabat 2025" in the Turkmen capital by a licensed international arbitrator of category "C" from Iran, Ms. Sharif Nataj Khadijeh. She also serves as the deputy chief referee at the Ashgabat tournament.
"The conditions created for the chess tournament in Ashgabat meet the highest international requirements, including infrastructure, a game room, the level of sports organization, refereeing, online publication of the draw and online broadcast of the games. The children were very lucky to get to this Ashgabat holiday. You deserve to host tournaments of a higher rank, including the official Asian and World championships among both juniors and professional players of the highest level," Sharif Nataj Khadijeh said.
Earlier, Alexander Shkurikhin, head of the Russian delegation and head of the “A-Gambit” Chess club in the Leningrad Region, said that the Ashgabat international tournament with an unforgettable atmosphere of friendship and fair play has become a real celebration for young chess players.
The first international chess tournament "Ashgabat 2025" involves 129 athletes aged 8, 10 and 12 from Vietnam, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, who compete for 12 sets of medals in three age categories in rapid and blitz competitions. In rapid, each player was given 15 minutes per game with an increment of 10 seconds per move. And in blitz - a lightning game in chess - 3 minutes per game with an increment of 2 seconds per move. The venue was the Specialized Chess and Checkers School of Ashgabat, built on the initiative of Hero Arkadag and designed for 500 playing places.
The day before, athletes competed for the first six sets of medals in the rapid game. According to its results, the first place in the unofficial team standings with 3 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze medals was taken by the team of Turkmenistan. In second place with 2 gold and 2 silver awards is the team of Uzbekistan. In third place with 1 gold and 1 silver are the chess players of Kazakhstan, who are currently performing below their capabilities. Iran and Tajikistan have one bronze each.
