Twenty-year-old FIDE master Lala Shohradova has reclaimed the women's chess championship of Turkmenistan after three years. She dominated the major league tournament in Ashgabat, securing victory with a strong performance.
The women's major league chess tournament, held in Ashgabat over ten days, featured the eight strongest female players from Turkmenistan competing in two rounds for a total of 14 games. Lala Shohradova, a 20-year-old student at the International Oil and Gas University named after Yagshygeldi Kakayev with a FIDE rating of 2109, won the title by scoring 11.5 points. This placed her 3.5 points ahead of silver medalist Jahan Rejepova, a 10th-grade student from specialised secondary school №41 in Turkmenabat with a rating of 2051, who scored 8 points as the defending champion from last year. Bronze went to 16-year-old Mahri Agamyradova, a 10th-grade student from the 27th secondary school in Turkmenabat, with 7.5 points and a rating of 1926.
Shohradova's path to chess began at age five. By nine, she won the world championship among schoolgirls in her age group in Thailand. At 12, she debuted for the Turkmenistan national team at the 2018 World Chess Olympiad in Batumi. She claimed the national under-16 girls' title at 14, followed by the rapid chess championship in November 2022 and her first classical women's title in February 2023. This victory makes her a two-time champion.
During her school years in Turkmenabat, Shohradova trained under coach Gulhan Gurbandurdyyeva. She now studies in Ashgabat with honoured coach Serdar Annaberdyev. Rejepova and Agamyradova train with Guljahan Ovulyagulyyeva.
The results qualify the top three finishers, plus fourth-place Ogulsuray Bayrambayeva (7 points, rating 1906, a fourth-year student at the Turkmen State Institute of Physical Education and Sports), for the women's national team at the 46th World Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in September 2026. Shohradova's sister, Leyla Shohradova (rating 2183, a student at the same university), joins based on her high FIDE rating and will compete in the open category against men.
Notable was 12-year-old Dilber Hupbayeva from secondary school №7 in Dashoguz (rating 1916), who scored 6.5 points and showed mature play against stronger opponents, narrowly missing national team selection.