In December 2021, the lesser-known territories of chess from South-Central Asia got all the spotlight they deserved as two teenagers from the neighbouring nations Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan won two separate championship events.
17 year old GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov from Uzbekistan set a new age record as the youngest World Rapid Champion after defeating the world champion Magnus Carlsen in Warsaw. He defeated Carlsen, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruan at 17 years and three months, thus bagging the title of the youngest world champion ever in open competition.
Close at the heels of Abdusattorov’s crown, came the victory of 17-year old IM Bibisara Assaubayeva from Kazakhstan who won the Asian Women’s Continental Online Chess Championship held from August 23-25, 2021. Assaubayeva cleared the first round on the Tornelo platform and concluded the event undefeated, scoring 7.5 points. She also won the World Blitz crown against former world women’s chess champion GM Alexandra Kosteniuk.
Abdusattorov: The Crowning Glory of Uzbek Chess
For Nodirbek Abdusattorov, the victory is manyfold as he surpassed some of the prominent age records in the chess world. He has surpassed Ruslan Ponomariov’s record at 18yrs in 2001 at the controversial FIDE version of the classical crown, and also broke the records of Carlsen at 18 (the 2009 World Blitz). However, the world women’s champion Hou Yifan holds a younger age record, winning the championship at the age of sixteen in 2010.
In the event, Abdusattorov tasted defeat only once at the hands of the Ukrainian Anton Korobov. He tied in five other matches scoring 9.5 points. Out of the 13 rounds, the young Uzbek racked up seven wins, including his triumphant victory over the world champion.
For a small nation, Uzbekistan has always leaped far and above its league in world chess. Its young-and-coming players including Abdusattorov and Javokhir Sindarov, 16, have already marked their names among the elite, scoring in several championship events.
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With the decree issued by the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev in January 2021, Uzbek chess will see active development and systematic training in chess. As part of the project, “Chess in schools”, chess education is encouraged in elementary schools promoting chess among kids and teenagers.
The long-term state program for the development of chess focuses on ambitious goals that vary from establishing 25 new chess schools and clubs, and increased hours of chess training, to promoting chess as a priority sport and the nation’s entry into top-10 rated countries by FIDE by the year 2025.
With its efforts on nurturing chess and the achievements of its young talents, Uzbekistan lays an example of what can be accomplished by a small nation with the right attitude and approach to bigger challenges.
Bibisara Assaubayeva: Kazakhstan’s Answer to Future Chess
Bibisara Assaubayeva brought glory to her native Kazakhstan last December by winning the Asian Women's Online Championship. Seventy-four players from 15 Asian nations, including nine Women's International Grandmasters competed in the event which took place on the Tornelo gaming platform from August 23 to 25, 2021.
The 17 year old chess prodigy who started her lessons at the age of four dominated the women’s tournament defeating several senior GMs in the likes of Koneru Humpy, Anna Muzychuk, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Aleksandra Goryachkina.
In the 2021 World Rapid & Blitz Championship, Bibisara Assaubayeva became the Women's World Blitz Champion with a spectacular score of 13 wins, 2 draws, and 2 losses. The young Kazak chess champion finished clear 1st, leading by half a point over the Rapid Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk. Assaubayeva scored 14/17 and 120 blitz rating points in the event.
With a FIDE rating of 2285 in blitz, Assaubayeva also clinched the silver in the World Women’s Rapid Championship with 8.5/11, half a point behind Russia’s stalwart Alexandra Kosteniuk, who in turn took the silver in the Blitz.
Coming from Taraz, a city in southern Kazakhstan, Assaubayeva has adorned Kazakhstan's chess champion title several times. A first for a female chess player, Assaubayeva was named a FIDE Women's Master at the age of seven, following her victory at two world championships in 2011. In 2017, at the age of 14, Assaubayeva became the world's second-place runner-up. The young prodigy received her International Women's Grandmaster in September 2021.
Bibisara has performed for both her homeland as well as Russia, becoming a five-time world champion as well as vice champion in various junior categories twice. After representing the Russian Chess Federation from 2016 to 2018, Assaubayeva returned to Kazakhstan.
In Kazakhstan, chess is one of the most popular pastimes, with almost 200,000 individuals involved in the sport.
Some of the younger chess prodigies in the country include Aisha Zakirova, Sauat Nurgaliyev, and Dinmukhamed Tulendinov.
Nurgaliyev won his gold at the French Chess Rapid and Blitz Open tournament at the age of eight in 2018. The same year, Tulendinov topped the under-seven category at the FIDE World School Chess Championship in Durres, Albania at the age of seven. Zakirova also became the world chess champion in 2016 at the age of eight in the under-eight category.
The Kazakh government generously promotes interest in the sport among children, with more than 2,000 children learning chess in not less than 44 schools. The Ministry of Education and Sciences, Kazakhstan has provided the learning materials for chess.
The Kazakh Chess Federation routinely organizes tournaments at all levels, and efforts are being made to make the sport more widely available.
Many schools in cities like Almaty, Kyzylorda, and Pavlodar have included chess in the curriculum and provide chess lessons to students. Kazakhstan's chess community seems to hold a bright future, with a new generation led by Assaubayeva poised to make their mark in the Chess kingdom.
Wrapping Up
To raise a skilled chess player, you need to catch the talents young. Right mentoring and meticulous training will bring out the best in every potential young player. At Mind Mentorz, we believe in systematic training that’s founded on the principles of cognitive skill development to prune not only the skills for the game but the personality of the child in a holistic way. To know more about our chess coaching programs for children, reach us at Email: info@mindmentorz.com or Phone: +91 9606847428