Ten chess players – 5 in the open and 5 in the women's categories – will represent Turkmenistan at the zonal qualifying tournament of the 2025 World Cup starting today in Almaty.

The Asian Zone 3.4 Championship brought together 134 participants (88 men and 46 women) from Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, who will compete for three women's and four men's tickets to the 2025 World Cup. The Women's World Cup will be held from July 5 to July 29 in Batumi (Georgia), and the men's World Cup will be held from November 1 to November 26 in New Delhi (India).

According to the Chess Federation of Turkmenistan (CFT), our team includes the country's strongest chess players, including international master Saparmurat Atabayev (rating on April 1 – 2530), who is awaiting confirmation of the title of grandmaster at the next meeting of the FIDE Presidential Council, as well as grandmaster Meilis Annaberdiyev (rating – 2449) and FIDE women's master Lala Shokhradova (2144).

In addition to them, Turkmenistan will be represented in the open category by masters of sports Vepaly Khaliniyazov (2224) and Amanmukhammet Hommadov (2262), candidate for Master of Sports Shahrukh Turaev (2164), and in the women's category by candidates for Master of Sports among women Leyla Shokhradova (2023), Byagul Ezizova (1941), Ogulsuray Bairambaeva (1889) and first-class student Jahan Rejepova (2017).

Turkmen chess players will compete at the zonal tournament of the 2024 World Cup under the guidance of experienced specialists - FIDE masters, General Secretary of the CFT Mergen Kakabaev and Honored coach of Turkmenistan Serdar Annaberdiev.

The prize fund of the tournament is 20,000 US dollars, which will be divided equally between men and women. The winners will receive $3,000 each, and for the second place - $2,500 each. For the third place is provided - $ 1,500, for the fourth – $ 1,200, for the fifth – $ 1,000 and for the sixth – $800.

This championship is also significant for domestic chess because, for the first time, a representative from Turkmenistan, Chairman of the country's Chess Federation Vepa Myalikguliev, is included in the Appeals Committee of the prestigious official tournament along with two other colleagues, Secretary General of the Asian Chess Federation Hisham Al Taher (UAE) and international arbitrator from Kazakhstan Alexander Babenko. This role is usually trusted to the people with an impeccable reputation, who can objectively and impartially judge the most difficult controversial situations that can potentially arise at high level competitions.

The zonal chess qualifying tournament for the World Cup-2025 will end on April 10 in Kazakhstan.