Kazakhstan vs the World: Top female teams to face off in Astana

by ChessBase
4/3/2023 – One of the side events of the 2023 FIDE World Championship Match will be a contest facing the best female players from Kazakhstan against a team of international top stars representing the world. Each match will consist of 8 players, with 4 of them representing the age groups U20, U18, U16, and U14. The international team will have Hou Yifan, the highest-ranked woman player in the world, playing on the top board.

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Hou Yifan to lead the world team

Press release

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)

  • GM Hou Yifan (China, 2618)
  • GM Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia, 2462)
  • GM Harika Dronavalli (India, 2447)
  • IM Gunay Mammadzada (Azerbaijan, 2348)
  • U20 IM Nurgyul Salimova (Bulgaria, 2347)
  • U18 WIM Zsoka Gaal or Savitha Shri B (Hungary, 2187/ India, 2281)
  • U16 WIM Zsoka Gaal or Savitha Shri B
  • U14 WFM Afruza Khamdamova (Uzbekistan, 2135)

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!)


World Chess Championship 2023

Team Kazakhstan (rapid rating)

  • GM Zhansaya Abdumalik (2454)
  • IM Dinara Saduakassova (2402)
  • IM Bibisara Assaubayeva (2359)
  • WIM Meruert Kamalidenova (2273)
  • U20 WIM Liya Kurmangaliyeva (2152)
  • U18 FM Kseniya Balabaeva (2111)
  • U16 WIM Alua Nurmanova (2193)
  • U14 WFM Zarina Nurgalieva (2070)

Team Captain: WGM Gulmira Dauletova, Executive Director, Kazakhstan Chess Federation

World Chess Championship 2023

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.


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