Turkmen chess players performed at their seeding level at the recently concluded World Junior Chess Championship in Petrovac, Montenegro, for players under 20 years old.
The tournament gathered 255 of the strongest young chess players from over 60 countries, competing in two categories: Open and Girls. The Open category featured 157 players, while the Girls category had 98 participants. The competition was held in a Swiss system over 11 rounds to determine the strongest players in both categories.
Turkmenistan was represented by six chess players (three boys and three girls), five of whom improved their FIDE ratings. The country's champion for 2025, Vepaly Halyniyazov, gained the most rating points, adding 65 more to his score 2157. Also noteworthy are Serdar Bayramov (2007,+56) and Gulmira Seyilhanova (1939,+51).
In the Open category, where Indian Grandmaster Venkatesh Pranav became the world champion with 9 points (FIDE rating – 2615), the best result among Turkmen players was achieved by Amanmukhammet Hommadov with 5.5 points, ranking 81st out of 157. Vepaly Halyniyazov scored 5 points, and Serdar Bayramov scored 4 points.
In the Girls category, 16-year-old Russian Anna Shukhman won the world championship title with 9 points (FIDE rating – 2365). Lala Shokhradova, participating in the World Junior Championship for the second time, scored 5 points and ranked 66th out of 98. Her sister Leila Shokhradova and Gulmira Seyilhanova each scored 4.5 points, finishing 71st and 70th, respectively.
The Turkmenistan Chess Federation considers participation in the Junior World Championship as valuable experience for our players. For the coaching staff, the games played and results will be subject to further analysis and improvement of the preparation process.
Ahead for Turkmen chess players is participation in several other international tournaments. In April, they plan to participate in the Central Asia Zonal Championship (Kazakhstan), the World Rapid and Blitz Championship among boys and girls (Greece), the Moscow State University Cup, and other prestigious competitions. Time for preparation is limited, and the coaching staff plans to conduct thorough work to achieve high results in these tournaments.
