16-year-old FIDE master from Turkmenistan Lala Shohradova became the winner of the final stage of the “Queens Online” World Chess Festival. A schoolgirl from Danev etrap, Lebap velayat, achieved this success ahead of schedule, a round before the end of the competition in category B, where chess players with a current FIDE rating from 1800 to 1999 participated.
According to the press release of the Chess Federation of Turkmenistan, L. Shohradova scored 7.5 points in 9 games and, as a result, she was 1 point ahead of the Azerbaijani Aysel Mammadova, who made it to the final stage from the European qualification. Ashley Pang from the USA closed the top three with 6 points.
The key to the success of our compatriot was the game of the 7th round, where Lala defeated the leader at that time in category B Aysel Mammadova with white pieces and came out on top. In the very next round, the Turkmen chess player, in a difficult position for herself, effectively checkmated the American Erin Bian with a rook in the corner of the board and guaranteed herself an early victory in the tournament (see photo).
Total in the World Festival of “Queens” in the online format with blitz rules (3 minutes for the whole game with an addition of 2 seconds per move) more than 500 participants from about 100 countries from four chess continents - Asia (which includes Australia), Europe, Africa, North and South America competed for a place in the final part of the tournament.
In category A (for players with a FIDE rating above 2000) the representative of Peru won, in category C (rating from 1600 to 1799) - a chess player from Sri Lanka, and in category D (for girls with a rating below 1600 or without a rating) - a young gift from China.
The victory in the “Queens Online” World Festival gives our compatriot the right to visit the World Chess Olympiad, which will be held in July-August this year in India. However, Lala is already planning to participate in this main event for the world chess community as part of the women's team of Turkmenistan.
Another significant prize for the winners of the tournament both in each category and in the team competition will be the upcoming free series of online training sessions with famous female grandmasters this autumn.
It is noteworthy that in the team standings at the qualifying Asian stage of the tournament, Turkmenistan took the prestigious 3rd place, losing only to the traditionally strong teams of China and Iran and leaving behind 20 teams, including India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia.
In the final part of the world women's competition, the team of Turkmenistan will perform in the following composition: Jemal Ovezdurdyyeva (category A, rating 2061), Lala Shohradova (category B, rating 1856), Meryem Agajanova (category C, rating 1783) and Enesh Arazmedova (category D).
A series of continental tournaments among the representatives of the beautiful half of humanity, as well as the global final stage of the “Queens Online” tournament, are held as part of the “Year of the Woman in Chess” announced in 2022 by the World Chess Federation.
The Chess Federation of Turkmenistan expresses its gratitude to the main sponsor of the team of our female chess players at the final stage of the World Chess Festival “Queens Online” - the network of fabric stores “Nur Ýüpek”, as well as the clothing company “Saraýan” and the Ashgabat hotel “Ýyldyz” for their assistance in organizing participation in the competition.
