New milestones in chess: Mahri Agamuradova recognized internationally
The "Vladimir Dvorkovich Memorial – Aktobe Open 2026" international chess tournament, held in Aktobe, Kazakhstan, from June 3 to 11, concluded successfully for Turkmen athletes. In this prestigious competition, which brought together 210 chess players from 21 countries, including 23 grandmasters, our country's representatives demonstrated high-level skill.
16-year-old talented chess player Mahri Agamuradova, competing in the "Open" category, showed one of the best results. A 10th-grade student at a school specializing in foreign languages in Turkmenabat, Mahri scored 6 points in 9 rounds to take first place among women. In the overall standings, she secured 15th place. This success allowed Mahri to add 83.2 points to her FIDE rating and achieve the criteria necessary to attain the FIDE Woman Candidate Master (WFM) title. Her coach, Guljahan Ovlyakulyyeva, played a major role in the young athlete's victories.
Other representatives of our national team also finished the tournament successfully:
- Ogulsuray Bayrambayeva – +8.2 rating points;
- Jahan Rejepova – +26.8 rating points;
- Leyla Shohradova – +5.2 rating points.
In the "Masters" category, which gathers the strongest players, young talent Amanmuhammet Hommadov represented Turkmenistan. Competing on equal terms with more experienced grandmasters, he increased his rating by 10.6 points. With this result, Amanmuhammet moved closer to fulfilling the requirements for the International Master (IM) title.
Grandmaster Andrew Hong from the USA became the winner in the "Masters" category, while Alan Petukhov from Kazakhstan took first place in the "Open" category.
The Turkmenistan national chess team is currently continuing its training sessions. One of the main goals for our athletes is high-level preparation for the 46th World Chess Olympiad, which will be held in Samarkand in September.
