While world-class grandmasters battled for the title in the Masters tournament, Turkmen chess player Allayar Shirliyev confidently proved his superiority in his category—delivering another triumph for Turkmenistan in a remarkably successful summer of 2026 for the nation’s chess scene.
Allayar Shirliyev (FIDE rating 2184, born 31 October 2003, Ashgabat) emerged as the winner of the Open A tournament at the 32nd Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival, which took place from 15 to 24 August in the United Arab Emirates. The Turkmen athlete delivered a dominant performance throughout the event, securing 1st place with an impressive score of 8 points out of 9 possible. Following his performance, his rating surged by 40.6 points.
The Abu Dhabi Festival is one of the region’s largest chess events, annually drawing hundreds of participants from dozens of countries. Organized by the Abu Dhabi Chess Club & Mind Games, the competitions were hosted at the Radisson Blu Hotel & Resort on the Abu Dhabi Corniche. The Open A tournament was played under a 9-round Swiss system with classical time controls—90 minutes per game with a 30-second increment per move starting from move one.
Top Standings:
- 1st place: CM Allayar Shirliyev (Turkmenistan)
- 8/9 points
- Seed No. 7 (SNo 7)
- Rating: 2184
- 2nd place: IM Bashir Eiti (Syria)
- 7.5/9 points
- Seed No. 4 (SNo 4)
- Rating: 2251
- 3rd place: IM Richilieu III Salcedo (Philippines)
- 7.5/9 points
- Seed No. 1 (SNo 1)
- Rating: 2298
Starting as the 7th seed, Allayar Shirliyev confidently claimed 1st place with 8 out of 9 points, outpacing two higher-seeded International Masters.
In addition to Open A, the festival traditionally features Masters, Open B, and Juniors U16 categories—ranging from young prodigies to leading world grandmasters. This year’s Masters tournament featured prominent players including Russian grandmaster Daniil Dubov, Indian grandmasters P. Iniyan, Anand Pranav, S. L. Narayanan, and Abhijeet Gupta, Armenia’s David Paravyan, as well as Aleksandr Rakhmanov and Ivan Zemlyanskii. The high standard of competition across the festival adds special weight to the Turkmen athlete’s victory in his category.
Not the Only Victory of the Month
Shirliyev’s success is just one of several achievements by Turkmen chess players in August 2026. A few days prior, Lala Shokhradova won the gold medal in the girls’ rapid tournament at the Asian Junior (U20) Chess Championship, held in Mumbai, India, from 16 to 26 August. This marked Shokhradova’s second medal of the championship, having claimed silver in blitz on 17 August. Earlier this summer, the Turkmenistan national team brought home a historic record of 16 medals from the Central and North Asian Championship in Kyrgyzstan.
Allayar Shirliyev’s victory in Abu Dhabi continues this streak of success, demonstrating once again that the Turkmen chess school is making a strong mark on the global stage./// Chess Federation of Turkmenistan