Turkmen Chess Star Breaks New Ground at Prestigious FIDE Women’s World Cup In Georgia

The prestigious FIDE Women’s World Cup is currently taking place in Batumi, Georgia with 107 of the world’s top female chess players, including 19-year-old Lala Shokhradova, who is making history as the first-ever representative from Turkmenistan to compete in the tournament.

Shokhradova, a Woman FIDE Master with a rating of 2135 and captain of the Turkmen women’s national team, secured her place following her team’s remarkable victory in the C category at the 45th Chess Olympiad 2024 held in Budapest, Hungary, The Caspian Post reports, citing Turkmen media.

The tournament follows a knockout format with seven rounds. Each round consists of two classical games, with a time control of 90 minutes plus an additional 30 minutes after move 40, along with a 30-second increment per move. If tied, players face a series of tiebreaks-starting with rapid games and, if necessary, blitz games-until a winner emerges.

In the opening round, Shokhradova, seeded 90th, is set to compete against 23-year-old Indian International Master and Woman Grandmaster, Vantika Agrawal, seeded 39th with a rating of 2388.

photo: Orient

The Women’s World Cup, a relatively recent addition to the international chess calendar modeled after the men’s event, began in 2021 with Russia’s Alexandra Kosteniuk taking the inaugural title. The 2023 champion was also Russian, Alexandra Goryachkina. The winner advances to the Candidates Tournament, which determines the challenger for the Women’s World Chess Championship.

Looking ahead, the 2025 FIDE Men’s World Cup is scheduled from October 31 to November 27, with the venue yet to be confirmed. Turkmenistan will be represented by International Grandmaster Saparmurat Atabayev, who qualified after the men’s national team’s impressive performance at the 2024 Chess Olympiad in Budapest, where they earned “small gold” in category B and ranked 24th overall.

Turkmenistan’s history in the Men’s World Cup includes Grandmaster Yusup Atabayev, who participated in the 2015 tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan. He fought fiercely in the first round but was narrowly defeated in a tiebreak by Russian three-time World Rapid Chess Champion Alexander Grischuk.

The Chess Federation of Turkmenistan expressed great pride in its players and extended best wishes to Lala Shokhradova for success in Batumi and to Saparmurat Atabayev for his preparations ahead of the World Cup in November. Their achievements symbolize a promising new era for chess in Turkmenistan.