Two medals were won by Turkmen chess players at the Asian Championship among schoolchildren that started in Tashkent in Tashkent.

According to the website “Turkmenistan: Golden Age”, 330 athletes from 17 countries of the Asian and Australian continents participate in the competition, who compete for championship awards in rapid (rapid chess), classical version of the game and blitz (blitz chess) in age categories up to 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 and 17 years old.

The Asian Championship, held for the 17th time among schoolchildren, started with a rapid tournament (in this type of chess, each player is given 15 minutes for the entire game with an addition of 10 seconds for each move), in which the representatives of Turkmenistan excelled in the oldest age category - up to 17 years. In the competition among girls, a student of the 10th grade of the secondary school № 31 of the Dyanev etrap of the Lebap velayat, Lala Shohradova, won the silver medal, and in the competition of boys, the senior student of the Ashgabat school № 117 Amanmuhammed Hommadov achieved bronze.

Having scored 5 points out of 7 possible, Lala was one point behind her peer from Uzbekistan Umida Omonova, who a month earlier in Batumi (Georgia) became the world champion in the same category. The third place with 5 points was taken by a chess player from India, Kashthuri, who lost the second place to L. Shohradova by additional coefficients.

But Amanmuhammed Hommadov, who scored 5,5 points out of 7, was not lucky with additional coefficients. They placed him in third place, losing to second with the same number of points from Russian Alexander Khripachenko. Khishigbat Ulzikhishig from Mongolia excelled in this age category, scoring 6,5 points out of 7 possible.

For Amanmuhammed, this medal is the first one won at international competitions in a “live” format, that is, behind the board (as opposed to online competitions).

Another medal of the Asian Championship could go to 10 years old Alikhan Batyrov from Mary. In the age category up to 11 years, in which 32 chess players played, he shared the first five places with four other participants with a score of 5,5 points.

However, according to the additional coefficient, Alikhan was in 4th place, leaving ahead the bronze medalist Suleyman Ahmet (Kazakhstan), the silver medalist Shahzod Islamov (Uzbekistan) and the champion Vinuk Vijeratkhna (Sri Lanka).

Turkmenistan at the Asian championship among schoolchildren is represented by 12 champions - one in each of the age categories, as well as several additional players.

The next set of medals of the Asian Championship will be played by schoolchildren in chess with a classic time limit.