Chess: Best female chess-players to come to Astana

The best female chess-players will come to Astana, Vesti.kz reports. The Women's World Team Championship 2013 will be held in Astana, Kazakhstan, on March 2-13. The chess team of Kazakhstan consists of World Grand Master Guliskhan Nakhbayeva, the youngest female Grand Master of Kazakhstan Dinara Saduakassova, the silver prize-winner of Slovenia World Youth Championship Zhansaya Abdumalik and Kazakhstan's participants of Istanbul Chess Oylmpiad Madina Davletbayeva and Gulmira Dauletova. Darmen Sadvakassov, vice-president of Kazakhstan Chess Federation said that the Kazakhstan women’s team consisting of the same chess players has played well in Turkey recently. For example, Nakhbayeva tied a draw with China’s world champion Hou Yifan. Saduakassova shared the first place in the Moscow Open 2012 recently. “Our team has got a great potential. I think that Kazakhstan women’s team will become one of the leading teams of the world women’s chess in several years,” Sadvakassov said. Kazakhstan was chosen to host the Women's World Team Championship 2013 in September 2012 at the World Chess Federation (FIDE) General Assembly. The best three national chess teams of the World Chess Olympiad, champions of five continents, the host-country team and one team chosen by the president of the FIDE will take part in the competition. Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian, American, Indian, French, Turkish, Georgian and Romanian teams will compete against the team of Kazakhstan at the Championship. Every team consists of five chess players. Sadvakassov hasn’t given the exact layout of the Kazakhstan Grand Masters in the team at the Championship, because there still could be some changes before the tournament. “Leading female chess players will come to Astana and it is difficult to predict the results of the Championship. China’s and Russia’s teams are the traditional leaders of such competitions. I would say that Ukraine’s team will put up a hard fight for the first place as well,” Sadvakassov said. Sadvakassov complained that there was no specialized Chess Center in Kazakhstan and that sponsors didn't support Kazakhstan chess on a regular basis. He said that the Chess Center is needed first of all as a premises for world championships. “This is an opportunity to build one more beautiful architectural piece in Astana. For example, Dubai Chess Club was built in the shape of a rook,” Sadvakassov said. He also added that it is important to support young chess players, who live in regions, because there are many talented Grand Masters among chess players in Kazakhstan's oblasts.