Young Kazakhstani chess player confirms International Master title
The 19th International Chess Tournament “In Memory of Georgy Agzamov, the First Grandmaster of Uzbekistan" was held in Tashkent on March 17-26, Qazinform News Agency reports.
The 18-year-old Alua Nurman from Almaty delivered the best result among 23 female participants, with a tournament performance rating of 2521 and a +38.2 rating gain, once again confirming her International Master (IM) title.
Alua faced grandmasters in six of her 10 games, winning five — including a win over Brandon Jacobson (2598, USA) — and drawing with Sethuraman S. P. (2557, India), and Sanan Sjugirov (2599, Hungary).
Among the other Kazakh players, Rinat Jumabayev achieved the highest placement, scoring 6½ points to finish 19th, despite a rating loss of 13.3 points.
Azamat Utegaliyev (2419) and WGM Alua Nurman (2378) both scored six points, finishing 23rd and 24th, respectively.
Dedicated to Central Asia’s first grandmaster, Georgy Agzamov (1984), the event offered a prize fund of $80,000. A total of 101 players competed in the Open-A category, including nine from Kazakhstan.
Earlier, Qazinform reported Kazakh chess player Bibisara Assaubayeva is set to compete in the 2026 Women’s Candidates Tournament, becoming the first representative of Kazakhstan to fight for the right to challenge for the world chess title.
