Ashgabat to host international chess tournament

An international chess tournament will take place in Ashgabat on June 15-19. The progress of preparations for the event was reported on friday at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers by Vice Premier B. Orazdurdyeva, who oversees the sports sector.

As previously reported, the upcoming international competitions are intended to become an important event of the International Year of Peace and Trust and will promote the triumph of peace through sports. Athletes aged 8, 10, and 12 from many foreign countries as well as from our own country will participate.

In this regard, the Vice Premier presented a corresponding proposal for the consideration of the head of state.

Summarizing the report, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov noted that effective work is underway to further enhance the sports prestige of our country on the international stage, develop Turkmen sports, and regularly hold international competitions of various levels. In this context, the head of state instructed the Vice Premier to properly prepare for the high-level organization of the international chess tournament at the Specialized Chess and Checkers School in Ashgabat.

Ashgabat is no stranger to hosting international competitions. In 2017, the city successfully hosted the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, which gathered over 5,000 top athletes from 62 countries, including from Oceania. In 2018, it hosted the International Rally "Amul-Khazar 2018," the route of which followed the historic Great Silk Road, as well as the World Weightlifting Championship.

In June 2023, the Turkmen capital for the second time hosted the Central Asian Team Tennis Championship for boys and girls under 12, where young athletes from six countries—Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan—competed for the title of the strongest. In November of the same year, the 14th World Kurash Championship was triumphantly concluded for the Turkmenistan national team at the Martial Arts Sports Complex in the Olympic Village. The event featured athletes from 45 countries across four continents, and athletes from our country won 15 medals in 15 weight categories—5 gold, 6 silver, and 4 bronze.

A notable event in the sports calendar was also the international ice hockey tournament held in Turkmenistan in 2024, which brought together teams from the Commonwealth of Independent States and other countries. In April of this year, Ashgabat organized another prestigious competition—the International Tournament in National Wrestling "Goreş" and Belt Wrestling "Alysh," with participants from Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Belarus, Georgia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.

And now Ashgabat is preparing to host yet another major tournament, which is expected to become another unforgettable event in the history of Turkmen sports.