Young chess players from Turkmenistan won 10 medals at the 20th Asian School Chess Championship—matching the record set in 2019. Eleven athletes secured 2 gold, 5 silver, and 3 bronze medals for the national team across all three disciplines: classical chess, rapid, and blitz. Averaging 0.91 medals per participant, this marked the best performance in Turkmenistan’s history at these championships.
In the overall medal standings, Turkmenistan finished fourth out of 12 countries, trailing only Russia and Kazakhstan in the total number of awards. The star of the championship was seven-year-old Bakhar Jumayeva, who won a full set of medals: bronze in classical chess, gold in rapid, and silver in blitz.
The continental championship took place from October 2 to 10, 2026, in Bunyrev, Tula Oblast, Russia, under the auspices of the Asian Chess Federation and the Chess Federation of Russia. Classical chess matches were held from October 2 to 8, rapid chess on October 9–10, and blitz on October 10. More than 300 young chess players from 12 Asian countries participated in the event. Turkmenistan was represented by 11 athletes competing in 11 age categories ranging from 7 to 17 years old.
In the championship’s overall medal standings, the Turkmenistan team finished fourth out of 12 countries. In terms of the total number of medals, the team placed third—trailing only Russia and Kazakhstan but finishing ahead of India. Notably, Turkmenistan competed with a squad of 11 athletes—half the size of Kazakhstan’s team (22).
The team’s performance was the best in its history: the 11 participants averaged 0.91 medals each, compared to 0.83 in the record-breaking year of 2019 and 0.32–0.35 in 2016, 2023, and 2024. In the rapid event, the national team won gold for the first time since 2019—securing two titles—while in classical chess, they returned to the podium following the 2024 Bangkok tournament, where they had failed to win any medals in that discipline.
Over the course of twenty championships, the Turkmenistan national team has fielded a full squad five times—in 2016, 2019, 2023, 2024, and 2026—and returned with medals on every occasion. Turkmen chess players were registered for the 2011 and 2013 tournaments but did not actually compete, while a single participant in 2018 and 2022 represented the country.
The Asian Schoolchildren’s Championship has been held since 2005, and the current event marked its twentieth anniversary edition. Turkmenistan made its debut at the tournament in Tehran in 2016, immediately winning six medals, three of which were gold. Until this year, the record had been set in Tashkent in 2019, with a haul of 10 medals—including five golds—and a third-place finish in the overall medal standings. In the Tula region, the national team matched that record for the total number of medals won.
The full championship results have been published on the tournament’s official website and on the chess-results.com platform.
