The Turkmenistan women’s national team won silver medals in rating Category “B” at the 46th FIDE Chess Olympiad, which concluded in Samarkand. The success of the Turkmen women’s team was determined by the results of the final, 11th round, in which they confidently defeated the Belarusian team, seeded 32nd, by a score of 3.5–0.5.

In this match, victories on their respective boards were recorded by Woman FIDE Master Lala Shohradova (rating 2147), who defeated International Master Aliaksandra Tarasenka (2228); FIDE Candidate Master Leyla Shokhradova (2101), who defeated Woman FIDE Master Varvara Poliakova (2233); and Mahri Agamuradova (1939), who proved stronger than FIDE Master Nika Venskaya (2155). The only draw for the Turkmen quartet was recorded by Woman FIDE Master Jahan Rejepova (2027) in her game against FIDE Master Veranika Abramkina (2254).

This is the second consecutive Olympic medal for the women’s national team. Two years ago, at the Olympiad in Budapest, the Turkmen women won gold in Category “C”, thanks to which they moved up in the rankings and were promoted to the stronger Category “B”. The battle for first place in Group “B” continued right up to the finish, with Turkmenistan and Croatia both earning 14 match points. However, the gold went to the Croatian women on tiebreak criteria, while the Uzbekistan II team won the bronze medals.

In the overall women’s standings, the Turkmen team, which started as the 55th seed, finished 33rd among 190 national teams, recording six wins, two draws, and three losses. China emerged as the overall winner of the women’s competition, Kazakhstan took silver, and India won bronze.

Individually, the best result for the Turkmen women’s team was achieved by Mahri Agamuradova, who scored 7.5 points out of 10 on the fourth board, with a tournament performance rating of 2253 and a rating gain of more than 160 points. This enabled her to achieve the Woman FIDE Master (WFM) norm and her first Woman International Master (WIM) norm. Leyla Shohradova scored 7 points out of 11 on the second board, winning her final three games. Jahan Rejepova scored 5 points out of 9, Lala Shohradova scored 4.5 points out of 10 on the first board against the strongest opponents, while Ogulsuray Bayrambayeva (1952) contributed 3 points out of 4.

The national team’s head coach and Secretary General of the Chess Federation of Turkmenistan, Mergen Kakabayev, noted that thanks to systematic training, the team approached the tournament in optimal form and was able to prove that the actual playing level of the chess players rated 1900–2100 was equivalent to a rating level of 2200 and above.

The Turkmenistan men’s national team, which started as the 65th seed, lost 1.5–2.5 in the final, 11th round, to Montenegro, seeded 40th, whose lineup consisted entirely of International Grandmasters. The only victory in the match was achieved by Vepaly Halynyazov (2257), who defeated Luka Draskovic (2468) with the black pieces on the fourth board. Meylis Annaberdiyev (2384) drew with Nikita Petrov (2565) on the second board. Meanwhile, International Grandmaster Saparmyrat Atabayev (2503) and FIDE Master Amanmuhammet Hommadov (2389) suffered defeats on the first and third boards against Denis Kadric (2513) and Nikola Djukic (2447), respectively.

Finishing the tournament with 12 points (five wins, two draws, and four losses), the men’s team, led by captain and Honoured Coach of Turkmenistan Serdar Annaberdiyev, placed 64th among 206 participants. At the same time, Amanmuhammet Hommadov scored 6 points out of 11 and achieved his third and final International Master (IM) norm, pending official approval by FIDE. Saparmyrat Atabayev also scored 6 points out of 11; Meylis Annaberdiyev scored 5.5 points out of 10; Shahruh Turaev (2222) scored 4 points out of 8; and Vepaly Halynyazov won all four of his games with a phenomenal performance rating of 2966.

The Uzbekistan national team won the open section of the Olympiad, India took the silver medals, and Germany won bronze.

The next, 47th FIDE Chess Olympiad, will be held in 2028 in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.