11-y.o. Kazakh chess champion on her way to Guinness Book

Kazakhstan chess-player Zhansaya Abdumalik won the ASEAN International Chess Championship in U20 Girls category held in Indonesia, Megapolis writes. With the new victory the 11-year-old girl, a triple world chess champion, became an International Master. “This victory was not easy for Zhansaya, because she had to play against the girls who are twice as old as her in Indonesia. Acclimatization affected the first game and Zhansaya lost to Nguyen Thi Mai Hung, a rating favorite from Vietnam. But then she won against five players in a row and then tied the last three games. She won the first prize,” the girl's father and coach Daniyar Ashirov said. Zhansaya Abdumalik got 6.5 points out of 9 possible at the championship. This score made her eligible for the title of the International Master. She is the youngest International Chess Master in Central Asia. According to Ashirov, currently only two out of five players of Kazakhstan national team have the title of International Master. If Zhansaya is confirmed to be the youngest International Master in the world, she may be included into the Guinness Book of Records. Earlier Ashirov told the media that his daughter might lose state scholarship. He also said that that a sponsor paid for the girl's participation in her third Championship, while Kazakhstan Chess Federation paid for other participants. Zhansaya's dream is to break two world records: become the youngest international Grand Master in the history of chess (the record is set by Sergey Karyakin at the age of 12 years and 7 months) and win a title of the World Champion among girls (the record belongs to Maia Chiburdanidze at the age of 17).