The 17th open international chess tournament «Georgy Agzamov Memorial», dedicated to the memory of the first grandmaster of Uzbekistan, took place in Tashkent.
The competition brought together 247 participants from 18 countries, who competed in groups «A» and «B» according to the Swiss system of 10 rounds.
In the strongest group «A», where 92 chess players (81 men and 11 women), including 15 men’s international grandmasters, 13 men’s international masters, 2 women’s grandmasters, 4 women’s international masters, competed for prizes, two representatives of Turkmenistan – an international master Saparmyrat Atabayev and FIDE master Jemal Ovezdurdyyeva.
Saparmyrat Atabayev took 10th place with a score of 6.5 points, 1.5 points behind the tournament winner, grandmaster Susanto Megaranto (Indonesia) and 0.5 points short of completing the international grandmaster's ball.
Jemal Ovezdurdyyeva took 27th place in the overall standings with a score of 5.5 points, and first place among women, ahead of the chess players of the Uzbekistan national team. During the tournament, our compatriot won against eminent men's grandmasters Alexey Alexandrov from Belarus, Igor Yagupov from Russia, international master Akmal Fayzullayev from Uzbekistan, and in the last round against the young «star» of Uzbekistan, world champion under 14 years old Afruza Hamdanova, who has the highest rating among women in their country (2327).
Second place among women was taken by the silver medalist of the 19th Summer Asian Games in Hangzhou (China), international master Umida Omonova from Uzbekistan. The top three was completed by the multiple champion of Uzbekistan among women, grandmaster Nilufar Yakubbayeva.
At the tournament in Tashkent, D. Ovezdurdyyeva also performed the second ball of the Women's International Master. She earned her first one in 2018 at the World Chess Olympiad in Batumi, showing a very high result on her board - 8 points out of 10 possible.
Jemal Ovezdurdyyeva started playing chess at the age of 6. Her first coach was Honoured Coach of Turkmenistan Shohrat Myratgulyyev. At age 12, she won a bronze medal at the World Under-13 Championships, and in 2016 she became a National Master of Sports and a FIDE Women's Master.
Jemal became the champion of Turkmenistan among women in 2015, 2016, 2019.
In 2018, she won a gold medal in Group «B» at the Abu Dhabi Open international tournament in the UAE, as well as a bronze medal at the West Asian U20 Blitz Championship in Tashkent.
In 2022, D. Ovezdurdyyeva took first place at the Sharjah Cup for women, held in the UAE, and in 2023, she won a silver medal in the women’s category at the international tournament «Issyk Kul Open» in Kyrgyzstan.
In 2021, Jemal Ovezdurdyyeva graduated with honours from the Turkmen State Institute of Physical Education and Sports with a degree in sports economist. From 2021 to 2023, she worked as an accountant at the Chess Federation of Turkmenistan, after which she returned to professional sports.
