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Chess

Kazakhstan’s Bibisara Assaubayeva Wins Third World Blitz Chess Championship

Kazakh chess star Bibisara Assaubayeva has claimed her third women’s world blitz title, emerging victorious at the 2025 World Blitz Championship in Doha. The win secures her a direct place in the 2026 Candidates Tournament, set to take place in Cyprus in April. Assaubayeva reaffirmed her dominance in women’s chess by defeating Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk 2.5-1.5 in the final. After three consecutive draws, she clinched the title in the decisive fourth game by capitalizing on a strategic advantage. The 21-year-old first rose to prominence in 2021, when she won the blitz title in Warsaw at just 17, becoming the youngest champion in the tournament’s history. She defended her crown in 2022 at the home championship in Almaty, solidifying her position among the elite in women’s chess. Her 2025 win in Doha marked the culmination of a strong performance throughout the 2024-2025 FIDE Women’s Tournament Cycle. “It’s an amazing feeling, as if all my New Year’s wishes have come true,” Assaubayeva told the tournament’s press service. She described this third title as the most emotional of her career due to the pressure and workload tied to the Candidates' qualification. Assaubayeva is the first Kazakhstani player to qualify for the Women’s Candidates Tournament, where she will face top contenders including India’s Divya Deshmukh, Humpy Koneru, and Vaishali Rameshbabu; China’s Zhu Jiner and Tan Zhongyi; and Russia’s Kateryna Lagno and Alexandra Goryachkina. The tournament will follow a double round-robin format in classical time control. The winner will earn the right to challenge China’s Ju Wenjun, who has held the women’s world championship title since 2018. In Kazakhstan, Assaubayeva’s achievement received high praise. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev awarded her the Order of Barys, 2nd degree. In his official message, he noted that Assaubayeva “has gone down in the history of world chess as an outstanding master and the first representative of Kazakhstan to become a three-time world blitz champion.” As previously reported by The Times of Central Asia, Assaubayeva was awarded the title of International Grandmaster (GM FIDE) in July 2025, becoming one of the most decorated chess players in Kazakhstan’s post-independence history.

Chess

Kazakhstan Hosts FIDE Chess Tournament for Players with Disabilities

Chess is a “great equalizer,” says Henry Lopez, a player from the Philippines. “It’s for everybody.” Lopez, who uses a wheelchair because of polio, is among dozens of competitors from around the world who are participating this week at the 2nd Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities in Astana. The event is organized by FIDE, the international governing body of chess, and hosted by the Kazakhstan Chess Federation, which is making a big push to introduce the game in schools across the country, as well as cultivate high performers at the elite level. The weeklong competition, whose closing ceremony is on Saturday, features 34 teams from 29 countries. There are teams from Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa. The players have visual, hearing, and physical impairments. The event is taking place at the Paralympic Training Centre, whose facilities are designed to help people with disabilities. In an interview posted on YouTube by FIDE, Lopez said he was taking part in the second edition of the event. The first, won by Poland, was held in Belgrade, Serbia in 2023. The Philippines came third in Belgrade and will try for the top spot again in Astana. “Chess for me now is my source of living in the Philippines,” Lopez said. “I’m a national player and we have stipend every month from the government.” FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich said the contest has drawn more teams and more countries this time around, and was consistent with the organization’s goal of providing access to top level events to as many people as possible, according to a FIDE interview. “We do believe that chess is inclusive and we have to make sure that it’s inclusive indeed,” Dvorkovich said. Shantel Panashe Gweshe, a player from Zimbabwe, told FIDE that the Astana event had inspired her. “When I go back to Zimbabwe, first thing, I’m going to make sure that I’m going to empower other people with disabilities to ensure inclusivity and participation,” she said.

Chess

Kazakhstani Woman Earns Grandmaster Title, Says Chess is “My World”

As Bibisara Asaubayeva of Kazakhstan puts it, she has dedicated 17 of her 21 years of life to chess. Was it worth it? Well, this month, FIDE, the Switzerland-based governing body of chess, awarded grandmaster status to Asaubayeva, making her the second Kazakhstani woman and the 43rd female player ever to earn the coveted title. The announcement came on Monday after a FIDE council meeting on July 18 that approved nine other grandmasters, including 15-year-old Kazakhstani Edgar Mamedov. It wasn’t a surprise for the players from Kazakhstan because they had achieved the required ratings two months ago and were awaiting official confirmation. Still, the accomplishment spurred reflections this week from Asaubayeva, who posted an Instagram slideshow of photos spanning her career, from a young girl perched in front of chessboards at tournaments to a young woman with a wealth of accolades and experience behind her. She described being “haunted” by missed chances or mistakes on the board and said chess was no longer a game for her because it is so much a part of her identity. “It’s so strange sometimes to look at my childhood photos from tournaments,” she said. “The games, the trips, the emotions — everything seemed so big, so extraordinary back then. I remember how differently I saw chess at the time — with awe, excitement, as if I were entering a fairytale where anything was possible.” Asaubayeva said losses hurt and she never gets used to them, but they make her more resilient. “To me, chess isn’t just 64 black and white squares. It’s a whole world. My world. And there’s still so much left to explore,” she said. “And you know… If you ever give it a try — this game will never let you go.” The first woman from Kazakhstan to become a grandmaster was Zhansaya Abdumalik in 2021. Asaubayeva won consecutive titles at the Women's World Blitz Championships in 2021 and 2022. Currently, she is ranked 10th among the world's highest-rated women with a rating of 2509, according to Chess.com. It stated that she received a wildcard into the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam in Las Vegas and played there a few days ago, but struggled against the world-class competition. Kazakhstan has been pushing to develop homegrown talent, introducing chess into the curricula of hundreds of schools, training chess teachers, organizing numerous tournaments, and even supporting chess federations in some other Asian countries. At last week’s chess council meeting, delegates confirmed the dates for several upcoming events, including the 2nd FIDE Chess Olympiad for people with disabilities, scheduled to take place in Kazakhstan in October this year.