Turkmen chess players made a real breakthrough at the 45th World Chess Olympiad, which ended in Budapest. The men’s and women’s teams of Turkmenistan, initially ranked 73rd, won small gold medals in their categories, demonstrating outstanding results and team spirit.
According to the publication “Turkmenistan: Golden Age”, the men’s team triumphantly completed the tournament in Group “B”, scoring 15 points and leaving behind strong rivals from Latvia and Kazakhstan. The women’s team did not lag behind their colleagues, winning Group “C” with 14 points, ahead of the team from Malaysia and chess players from Sri Lanka in additional indicators.
Impressive victories in the last rounds allowed the Turkmen teams to significantly improve their positions in the overall standings. The men’s team, having won against Singapore (3:1) and Israel (2.5:1.5), took 24th place. The women’s team, having beaten the Croatian team (2.5:1.5), rose to 32nd place. These results were the best in the entire history of Turkmenistan’s participation in the World Chess Olympiads.
It Is especially noteworthy that the men’s team of Turkmenistan outperformed such strong teams as Vietnam, Iran, Bulgaria, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Sweden and Austria, staffed with international grandmasters. The women's team, consisting of young chess players, surpassed the more famous teams of Italy, Australia, Iran, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Belgium and Norway.
Secretary General of the Chess Federation of Turkmenistan Mergen Kakabaev noted that the key to success was a united team spirit. “At the right moments, each player of the team worked on their games to the very end and squeezed the maximum out of every opportunity,” Kakabaev emphasized.
The 11’h round was especially dramatic, where the fate of the gold medals was decided in the games of Allayar Shirliev against international grandmaster Ilya Smirin and Jahan Rejepova against FIDE master Patricia Vujnovic. Despite the difference in experience and rating, the Turkmen chess players were able to win, ensuring their teams first places in the categories.
In the men’s team, the best result was shown by 39-year-old international grandmaster Meylis Annaberdiev, who scored 7 points out of 11 on the second board. In the women’s team, 17-year-old reserve Enesh Arazmedova performed brilliantly, winning all five games.
The coaching staff played an important role in the success of the teams. The coach of the men’s team, Serdar Annaberdiev, and the coach of the women’s team, Shakhrukh Turaev, conducted comprehensive training for the players, including theoretical and psychological work. A professional psychologist was even brought in to support the young players before the decisive matches.
The Indian team became champions in both sections. In the men’s tournament, the second and third places were taken by the teams of the USA and Uzbekistan, respectively. Among the women, silver went to Kazakhstan, and bronze to the USA.
The next, 46th World Chess Olympiad will be held in 2026 in Uzbekistan. At the closing ceremony, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich handed over the flag and torch of the competition to the leader of the”Uzbek team, Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
The success of th” Turkmen chess players at the 45th World Chess Olympiad opens a new page in the history of chess in Turkmenistan and demonstrates the growing potential of the country in the international chess arena.
