Turkmen athletes have risen to a new level in the world rankings at the 45th World Chess Championship that ended in Budapest (Hungary) Olympics, the medals of which were contested according to the Swiss system in 11 rounds 188 men's and 169 women's teams. They are all depending on the average The ratings were divided into five categories.

Turkmenistan men's and women's teams, both seeded 73rd in overall standings, were awarded small gold medals for first place in their categories. Men with 15 points took the lead in group “B”, leaving in second and third places, respectively, with 14 points, the teams of Latvia and Kazakhstan. And the women with 14 points won in group “C”, ahead of additional indicators for the Malaysian team (14 points) and the final Sri Lankan chess players top three with 13 points.

Having won two victories in a row at the finish of the tournament over opponents from Singapore (45th seed) – 3:1 and Israel (20th seed) – 2.5:1.5, The men's team of Turkmenistan took 24th place in the overall standings. And the women's our team, having beaten the Croatian national team (40th place) in the last round seeding) – 2.5:1.5, rose to 32nd place. These results are the best in the entire history of participation of representatives of domestic chess at World Chess Olympiads.

It is noteworthy that behind the men's team of Turkmenistan there were such strong teams staffed by international grandmasters Vietnam, Iran, Bulgaria, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Sweden, Austria and others countries And our young girls turned out to be higher than the more famous teams Italy, Australia, Iran, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Belgium, Norway and many others.

Such unprecedented success of Turkmen teams is associated with united team spirit among both boys and girls, says the general Secretary of the Chess Federation of Turkmenistan Mergen Kakabaev.

“At the right moments, each team player refined his games to the very end and made the most of every opportunity,” said M. Kakabaev.

A striking example of this was the 11th round, in which, with a draw score of 1.5:1.5 both in the men's match against Israel and in the women's match against Croatia in the remaining games of Allayar Shirliev and Jahan Rejepova were decided the fate of small gold medals in groups “B” and “C”.

Allayar played against the 2010 Olympic bronze medalist, the famous international grandmaster Ilya Smirin, and Jahan, who has a rating 1915, – against FIDE master Patricia Vujnovic with a rating of 2134. Despite the equal nature of the fight and the likelihood of a draw, A. Shirliev and D. Rejepova did not accept a draw and were able to put the squeeze on their more experienced rivals, which ultimately ensured the first place for our teams in their categories.

The 39-year-old international showed the best result in the men's team grandmaster Meilis Annaberdiev (2nd board), who scored 7 points out of 11. The 25-year-old international master has half a point less to his name Saparmurat Atabaev (1st board). Scored 5 points out of 10 possible on the 3rd board 18-year-old Amanmuhammet Khommadov, 4.5 points out of 8 – 21-year-old current national champion Allayar Shirliev (4th board) and 3.5 points out of 4 – 19-year-old Vepaly Khalyniyazov, who played with a replacement on the 4th board.

The 17-year-old reserve showed a 100 percent result in the women's team Enesh Arazmedova, who scored 5 wins in five games on board 4. 18- summer champion of Turkmenistan Meryem Agadzhanova (2nd board) scored 6 points in 10 games. Personal indicators of other Turkmen chess players look like this: 17-year-old Leyla Shohradova (3rd board) and 14-year-old Jahan Rejepova (4th board) – 5.5 points respectively after 10 and 9 games, 18-year-old vice-champion of the country Lala Shohradova (1st board) – 5 points from 10 possible. By the way, Lala was the only one in our female squad a chess player who had previous experience of participating in the Olympics.

It is important to note that throughout the tournament the players were tirelessly worked as a coach of the men's team, Honored Coach of Turkmenistan Serdar Annaberdiev, coach of the women's team, candidate master of sports Shakhrukh Turaev and the head of the delegation, FIDE Master Mergen Kakabaev. Experienced specialists comprehensively prepared each player before each game both theoretically and psychologically, up to studying opening repertoire and playing style of each opponent. And in critical moment of the tournament to boost the confidence of young players before was attracted by decisive meetings with eminent opponents professional psychologist.

The Indian team became champions in both sections, leading in the men's tournament of US chess players and previous Olympic champions from Uzbekistan, which this time took 2nd and 3rd places, respectively. And among Representatives of Kazakhstan also rose to the podium (2nd place) and the USA (3rd).

The next, 46th World Chess Olympiad will take place in 2026 year in Uzbekistan. At the award ceremony for winners and runners-up in Budapest, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich handed over the flag and torch competition to the leader of the Uzbek team Nodirbek Abdusattorov - winner of the silver medal at the current Olympics on the 1st board.