One of the side events of the 2023 FIDE World Championship Match will be... another match, one facing the best female players from Kazakhstan against a team of international top stars representing the world.
Kazakhstan is known for the strength of its female players. They have conquered many pinnacles recently. 19-year-old prodigy Bibisara Assaubayeva is the reigning two-time Women’s World Blitz Chess Champion. Dinara Saduakassova brought home silver from the 2022 FIDE Women’s World Rapid Chess Championship. Zhansaya Abdumalik won the 2021 FIDE Women’s Grand Prix in Gibraltar with 8½/11, finishing in clear first place with a 1½-point lead and meeting the requirements for the Grandmaster title.
One of the measures of a country’s strength is the average rating of its top-10 players. In the women’s list, Kazakhstan is number 10, led by the ambitious trio of GM Zhansaya Abdumalik (2497), IM Bibisara Assaubayeva (2440), and IM Dinara Saduakassova (2434).
The time has come to test Kazakhstan's muscles against the strongest female players from all over the world! The ladies will clash in rapid chess on 17-18 April and in blitz chess on 19 April.
Each team will consist of eight players, a combination of youth and experience as four of them must fall into age groups of U20, U18, U16, and U14. Girls will play against girls in corresponding age groups, and four women will meet other four women in an all-play-all Scheveningen format. The final result of the match will be decided by the total number of individual points together. In case of an equal number of points, the result will be a draw.
Team World (rapid rating)
Team Captain: WGM Dana Reizniece-Ozola, Deputy Chair of Management Board, International Chess Federation
Unmissable: Hou Yifan as special guest on Karsten Müller’s Endgame Show (free episode!)
Team Kazakhstan (rapid rating)
Team Captain: WGM Gulmira Dauletova, Executive Director, Kazakhstan Chess Federation
Kurmangaliyeva and Balabaeva came out on top of the special qualification event that was held to determine the spots in the team for this prestigious match.
