• KGS/USD = 0.01144 0%
  • KZT/USD = 0.00200 0%
  • TJS/USD = 0.09156 -0.11%
  • UZS/USD = 0.00008 0%
  • TMT/USD = 0.28530 -0.14%
  • KGS/USD = 0.01144 0%
  • KZT/USD = 0.00200 0%
  • TJS/USD = 0.09156 -0.11%
  • UZS/USD = 0.00008 0%
  • TMT/USD = 0.28530 -0.14%
  • KGS/USD = 0.01144 0%
  • KZT/USD = 0.00200 0%
  • TJS/USD = 0.09156 -0.11%
  • UZS/USD = 0.00008 0%
  • TMT/USD = 0.28530 -0.14%
  • KGS/USD = 0.01144 0%
  • KZT/USD = 0.00200 0%
  • TJS/USD = 0.09156 -0.11%
  • UZS/USD = 0.00008 0%
  • TMT/USD = 0.28530 -0.14%
  • KGS/USD = 0.01144 0%
  • KZT/USD = 0.00200 0%
  • TJS/USD = 0.09156 -0.11%
  • UZS/USD = 0.00008 0%
  • TMT/USD = 0.28530 -0.14%
  • KGS/USD = 0.01144 0%
  • KZT/USD = 0.00200 0%
  • TJS/USD = 0.09156 -0.11%
  • UZS/USD = 0.00008 0%
  • TMT/USD = 0.28530 -0.14%
  • KGS/USD = 0.01144 0%
  • KZT/USD = 0.00200 0%
  • TJS/USD = 0.09156 -0.11%
  • UZS/USD = 0.00008 0%
  • TMT/USD = 0.28530 -0.14%
  • KGS/USD = 0.01144 0%
  • KZT/USD = 0.00200 0%
  • TJS/USD = 0.09156 -0.11%
  • UZS/USD = 0.00008 0%
  • TMT/USD = 0.28530 -0.14%
19 February 2025

Viewing results 1 - 6 of 43

Uzbek Chess Player Apologizes to Indian Opponent After Handshake Stir

A chess grandmaster from Uzbekistan who declined to shake hands with his Indian female opponent ahead of their game and later cited “religious reasons” has kicked up debate and criticism of his conduct on Indian social networks and media. Nodirbek Yakubboev, a Muslim, later tried to atone for what had looked like a snub by giving flowers to grandmaster Vaishali Rameshbabu in a filmed street encounter on Jan. 30 after she had beaten him days earlier at the 2025 Tata Steel Chess Masters, in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. “I’m sorry,” Yakubboev, 23, said in the video posted by ChessBase India. “It’s very understandable. I didn’t take it that way,” replied Vaishali, who is also 23. She was accompanied by her brother Praggnanandhaa, 19, who is also a grandmaster and went on to win the Masters category in Wijk aan Zee. The tournament there ended on Sunday. The polite exchange among the three chess players, who were bundled against the cold, might have been the end of it. But some Indians felt that Vaishali had been disrespected, and they said so on social media, while also reveling in Vaishali’s fourth-round victory over the Uzbek in the tournament’s Challengers category. Vaishali was playing with the black pieces. “You absolute queen,” one admirer said. The Hindustan Times said Vaishali had the “last laugh” by winning and that the video of Yakubboev’s apology was “like a Bollywood movie,” but The Times of India thought the apology was “heartfelt.” A few online commentaries mused on the interaction between sports and religion, in particular the display of religious faith or symbols during competition. International chess luminaries also gave their opinions. One perspective came from Hungary-born Susan Polgar, who was the women’s world chess champion for several years in the 1990s. “This is my opinion: I have less of an issue with the religious excuse. Others may disagree,” Polgar said on X. “BUT, he could have informed the organizers, chief arbiter, and/or his female opponents in advance. This is NOT an Open Swiss event. This is a prestigious invitational when he knew in advance that he would face 4 female opponents. If he wanted an exception then be proactive. Otherwise, he has to expect criticism.” In the ChessBase India video, Yakubboev is interviewed about what he acknowledged was an awkward situation. “I didn’t shake her hand because of religious reasons,” he said. “It was my fault that I could not inform her or the arbiter” before the game. Yakubboev was asked about a 2023 incident in Abu Dhabi in which he shook the hand of another Indian female opponent, Divya Deshmukh. Photos of that handshake circulated online in the last week, prompting comments that the Uzbek grandmaster was inconsistent in encounters with women facing him across the chess board. Yakubboev clarified that, starting in 2024, he began “following the rules of my religion” and that he now considered it wrong for him to shake the hands of other women. He said the fallout since his game with...

Turkmenistan Participates in Meeting on Ending Discrimination Against Women

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) convened for its 87th session in Geneva, Switzerland, on January 29th, and Turkmen delegates once again made the journey to take part. Myakhri Byashimova, Turkmenistan's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, headed the delegation. The gathering covered the country's 6th intermittent report on its fulfillment of the Convention on the Elimination of All Types of Discrimination Against Women, according to the press office of Turkmenistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Turkmen delegation provided data on improvements that took place between 2018 and 2023 in the spheres of legislative issues, economy, regulation, and society and culture. The CEDAW’s current working session will run until February 16th. The United Nations General Assembly ratified the international convention known as CEDAW in 1979, requiring member nations to fight all forms of discrimination against women. CEDAW comprises one of the eight principal United Nations human rights conventions. Its mission is to underline that women's rights are tantamount to human rights overall.

Kyrgyzstan: Activist reports being attacked in Bishkek

BISHKEK (TCA) — A prominent activist in Kyrgyzstan has reported being attacked in Bishkek by unknown assailants against a backdrop of recent protests by anti-feminism groups, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reported. Continue reading

Central Asia: Women with HIV suffer from high level of violence, survey says

BISHKEK (TCA) — Representatives of civil society and development organizations from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan gathered on November 4 in Bishkek to discuss the results of a survey on gender-based violence and barriers for support in regards to women living with HIV. The study, conducted by the Eurasian Women’s Network on AIDS (EWNA), with support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the UNFPA, showed a high level of violence against the respondents, UNDP in the Kyrgyz Republic reported. Continue reading

ADB to help women access affordable housing finance in Kazakhstan

NUR-SULTAN (TCA) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $100 million local currency equivalent loan to help expand the lending operations of the Housing Construction Savings Bank of Kazakhstan (HSCBK), the main institution implementing government housing finance programs in the country. This will allow more than 3,000 women, particularly in the rural areas, to have access to affordable housing finance, ADB’s country office said on October 25. Continue reading

First group of Afghan women arrived in Kazakhstan as part of EU-funded educational project

ALMATY, Kazakhstan (TCA) — Almaty Management University (Alma U) on October 18 hosted an official reception on the occasion of the arrival of the first cohort of Afghan women in Kazakhstan that will start their studies as part of a project funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Kazakhstan. Continue reading