Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Jan.7 / Trend , E. Hasanov /
For the first time Turkmen chess players won awards at the men's championship of Asia. Thus, Mesgen Amanov, 22, gripped the bronze medal and Maksat Atabayev, 14, deserved the silver at the championship, the Turkmen media informed.
The competition was held in Al-Ain city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and involved 30 teams, three of which were presented by the hosting country. The Turkmen four-member squad faced rivals from Afghanistan, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Singapore and two cities of the UAE, Al-Ain and Sharj. During seven rounds, the Turkmen chess players gained four victories, played in a draw with the squad of Al-Ain and lost the squad of Vietnam and Singapore. Vietnam was presented by its strongest squad consisting of international grand masters.
The Turkmen squad consisted of only one grand master Mesgen Amanov who is the youngest grand master of Turkmenistan. Playing in the second chess-board, he could gain five victories and one draw out of the six parties as a result of which he ranked third. The legendary of the squad of the UAE Zahar Efimenko gripped the second place and the Chinese Chkhoi Chinchao won the first place. The youngest Turkmen player Maksat Atabayev stood as a reserve on the fourth board. But the captain of the squad, Turkmen trainer Shohrat Muratguluyev put forward Atabayev in the four parties out of seven and was not mistaken. The chess player won three parties and one finished in a draw as a result of which he won the silver medal.
Atabayev was included to the national squad as a result of three victories in the Turkmen championships which involved 14, 16 and up to 20 year old chess masters in 2008.
Besides the medals by personal, Turkmen chess players were awarded special prize by squad. In such kind of tournaments, participators of teams are divided into rating groups regarding the international attainment of each player. These groups were five in Asia's championship. Among the pretenders, Turkmen squad ranked first. This team was presented as the youngest team of the championship. But in non-rating group the squad shared fifth and seventh places with Vietnam and Mongolia with the same scores (only 0.5 points deterred them from the fourth place). The first place was gripped by the hosting country, second place by China and the third place by Iran.
Presently, the National Chess Center of Turkmenistan is holding intensified preparations to the major international tournament to be launched in the capital of India Delhi in mid January. The tournament will bring together 300 participators.
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