Saparmyrat Atabayev, a 27-year-old international grandmaster from Ashgabat, won bronze at the Karshi Open 2026 international chess tournament, which recently concluded in Uzbekistan.
The intellectual championship brought together 56 chess players from 10 countries and was dedicated to the memory of the remarkable teacher and mentor Ismat Shukurov, who made a significant contribution to the development of education in Uzbekistan.
The competition was held using the classical Swiss system over nine rounds with traditional time control, requiring the athletes to demonstrate maximum concentration and the highest level of grandmaster training.
After all rounds, the top three players had equal points – 7 out of 9 possible. Based on tiebreakers, the final placings were as follows: Vitaliy Bernadskiy (Ukraine, FIDE rating 2507) took first place, Saidakbar Saidaliyev (Uzbekistan, FIDE rating 2454) took second place, and Saparmyrat Atabayev (Turkmenistan, FIDE rating 2471) took third place.
The final, ninth round of the competition proved particularly noteworthy. Playing with the black pieces against the then-leading, experienced Israeli grandmaster Evgeniy Alekseyev, Saparmyrat Atabayev demonstrated impeccable tactical mastery and achieved a crucial victory, which propelled him into the top three of the tournament. The Turkmen grandmaster received a prize of 30,000,000 Uzbek soms (almost $2,500) as a reward.
Another representative of Turkmenistan, the cousin of prize winner, grandmaster Yusup Atabayev, also demonstrated a worthy result. Scoring 6 points out of a possible 9, he confidently entered the top 10 of the strongest players of tournament, taking a respectable eighth place.
Saparmyrat Atabayev is rightfully considered one of the strongest modern chess players in Turkmenistan. Demonstrating great potential from a young age, he has amassed a solid record of significant international achievements. These include victory in 2024 at the prestigious White Elephant tournament in Türkiye, triumph in 2025 at the UzChess Cup Futures international tournament in Tashkent, and successful achievement of grandmaster norms in competitions across Asia. Saparmurat Atabayev is a key member of the Turkmenistan national team, with which he won the gold medal in the «B» category at the 45th World Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary, in 2024, and won the 2nd AL-BERUNIY (Futures) international tournament in Tashkent in February 2025.
The high results of the athlete are the result of many years of hard work and the effective work of the national coaching school. The first and permanent mentor of grandmaster for many years has been Honoured Coach of Turkmenistan Aydogdy Atabayev.
The series of remarkable successes by Turkmen chess players on the international stage serves as a clear confirmation of the special attention paid in Turkmenistan to the development of physical education and sports and the support of young talent.
