The 26-year-old international grandmaster from Ashgabat, Saparmyrat Atabayev, won the prestigious international tournament UzChess Cup Futures held in Tashkent, The Turkmenistan: Golden age electronic newspaper reports.

The Futures tournament gathered 10 players (8 international grandmasters and 2 international masters) from 7 countries, competing for the title in a 9-round round-robin format with a time control of 90 minutes per game plus 30 seconds increment per move, and a no-draw agreement before move 30.

After nine rounds, Saparmyrat Atabayev scored 6 points, half a point ahead of second-place Ortik Nigmatov (Uzbekistan) and one point ahead of third-place Israeli grandmaster Evgeny Alekseev (rating 2520).

Victory in such a strong tournament and the impressive rating increase are further arguments supporting the justified awarding of the international grandmaster title to Saparmyrat Atabayev in April this year. His success at the UzChess Cup Futures will be a powerful impetus for the Turkmen chess school, motivating young talents to work hard and reach new heights.

Ahead of Saparmyrat Atabayev are participation in prestigious tournaments, including the World Cup in November this year in New Delhi, India.