Super-talent from Kazakhstan

Zhansaya Abdumalik is one of the most promising young talents of our time. She is from Kazakhstan, a country which has experienced a huge boom in women's chess, especially in recent years. Like her compatriot Dinara Sadukasova, Zhansaya is already among the absolute world leaders and has been in the top list of junior chess players for several years. She is a multiple youth and junior world champion, known for a very aggressive and dynamic playing style.

Zhansaya has been trained by world-famous chess coach Vladimir Chuchelov. 

Zhansaya described herself this way:

I was born in Kazakhstan, in the city of Almaty. Kazakhstan is a large and beautiful country, which ranks ninth in the world in terms of territory – still I have met people who have never heard of it. I am Kazakh by nationality. The word "Kazakh" is translated from ancient Türkic as "free, independent person". In ancient times we were nomads, roaming the steppes of Kazakhstan. Perhaps that's why I love traveling.

Almaty is the largest city of Kazakhstan, surrounded by the majestic mountains of the Zailiyskiy Alatau. Love for the mountains is instilled in us since our childhood, when every day, waking up, you look out the window and admire their beauty.

 

 

Most of my life I spend at the chessboard. Besides, I am fond of boxing. My trainer is a former silver world champion in heavyweight, a charming and kind friend. By boxing I relieve the stress accumulated after the tournaments.

 

Here is some video of me working on my boxing skills.

 

Currently I am participating in the primaries, the intra-party elections of the largest ruling party in Kazakhstan. My electoral program is aimed at the development of intellectual sports and youth policy.

In 2014, my parents and I founded the Chess Academy in Almaty. At the moment there are three branches of the Academy, where more than 700 children are studying chess. During this time we have brought up several prize-winners of the National championships in different ages, as well as the World  and Asian school champion U7. In January 2020, we held a record children's national championship with the participation of 873 young chess players from all regions of Kazakhstan.

My personal path crossed Zhansaya in 2019, during the super women's tournament in St. Louis. Already there she left a lasting impression with her lively and open manner. It didn't take too long before I took her into my heart. 

At the beginning of the year we met again with Anna Muzychuk in Gibraltar, and one month later at our "last" women's Bundesliga encounter in Hofheim we made a plan that in autumn 2020 Zhansaya ("Malysh", as Anna and I affectionately call her) would move to Berlin with me – I have a large enough flat. This would make traveling within Europe easier for her and allow several training sessions with Chuchelov. 

FIDE Women's Grand Prix

Zhansaya's chance to play in the Lausanne Women's Grand Prix 2020 came from unexpected circumstances. It was the last GP tournament before the lockdown, and, just like the Men’s Candidates, was not spared from the Corona crisis.

First Chinese player Zhao Xue was forced to cancel the event due to the radical measures taken her country already at the end of January. The place of the first reserve player was held for the Iranian top women player Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, who could not accept the invitation after internal problems arose in her country at the begin of this year, which besides Lausanne also prevented her from playing the Tradewise Chess tournament in Gibraltar. 

So Zhansaya was invited. The news caught Zhansaya while she was playing the last rounds of the Aeroflot Open. Just like MVL in the men’s candidates, she confirmed that being invited at the last moment was fine – in fact a true bliss. She proved herself a perfectly worthy replacement by taking the third place and once again confirmed the strength of her punches.

I chose her game versus Alexandra Kosteniuk, not only to prove that the young promising player from Kazakhstan is ready to knock down more experienced opponents, but also because she managed to make a turning point in her bad personal score against a previously inconvenient adversary.

Photo David Llada

I should mention that Nana Dzagnidze’s victory eventually leaves her a decent chance to join one of the two places reserved for the candidates.

To understand the above table correctly one has to take out Ju Wenjun, as she will be challenging the winner of the candidates tournament, and Aleksandra Goryashkina, who is already qualified as the runner-up of the World Championship match.

The current favourite to take one of the places in the candidates is Humpy Koneru, who is leading the series. Her comeback to chess, after maternity leave, cannot but impress: she has already won two Grand Prix stages and the newly established Cairns Cup tournament of 2020.

Kosteniuk is the current number three, but she has already completed the series and she will likely be overtaken by one of the next few contenders. So the decision of who will make it eventually into the candidates is a battle between Nana Dzagnidze, one of the Russian top players Katerina Lagno, both Muzychuk sisters, Harika Dronavalli and Alina Kashlinskaya. However, when the last stage, which was supposed to be held in Sardinia/Italy between 2nd and 15th of May, is going to be happening, nobody knows.

About the author

Elisabeth Pähtz (or Paehtz – rhymes with "Rates") is a German WGM and men's IM, currently rated 2473, making her the strongest female player in the country. Elisabeth (or Elli, or Lizzy) was trained in chess from early childhood by her father, GM Thomas Pähtz.

At the age of nine years she won her first German Championship in the under-11 age group. In 1999 she became Germany's women's chess champion. In 2002 Elisabeth became the Youth World Champion in the under-18 age group, and in 2004 the U20 Junior World Champion.

As one of the greatest German new-generation talents she was the subject of a large media interest when growing up. Among other things it was reported that she was likely to fail high school mathematics. Her own explanation for this is that she is an intuitive player, not a universal genius.

Elisabeth holds the FIDE titles of International Master and Woman Grandmaster. She is an active streamer on YouTube.