The Kazakhstan Boys Team defeated the World Boys Team in both rapid and blitz, while the World Girls Team emerged victorious in both formats. The total prize fund for the match amounted to KZT 15 million, El.kz cites Kazchess.
Each team consisted of 6 players, with one representative in each age category: U8, U10, U12, U14, U16, and U18.
“As you know, our youth national team has been the strongest in the world over the past two years, so we decided to take a risk and challenge the World Team to a match. It was certainly a bold challenge. However, since we genuinely believed we were the best, we knew we had a strong chance from the very beginning. Our team succeeded. This event, held alongside the FIDE World University Team Chess Championship, became one of the highlights of the entire tournament,” said Darmen Sadvakasov, First Vice President of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation.
The captain of the Kazakhstan boys’ and girls’ teams was Grandmaster Boris Grachev, coach of Kazakhstan’s youth national team.
The captain of the World boys’ and girls’ teams was International Master Akaki Iashvili, FIDE Special Tasks Director and President of the Georgian Chess Federation.
Akaki Iashvili highly praised the strength of the Kazakhstani team, noting that staging such a match had become possible thanks to the country’s rapid development in chess.
“The match turned out to be exciting, but more importantly, it demonstrated just how rapidly and confidently chess is developing in Kazakhstan. No other federation has yet organized a match between its national team and a World Team, because very few countries have such a strong youth squad. I believe this is a landmark event for the Kazakhstan Chess Federation and for Kazakhstan as a whole. The competition was intense throughout. The victory of the Kazakhstan Boys Team over the World Boys Team is a tremendous achievement. The girls also performed admirably, although the World Girls Team proved to be slightly stronger. Its lineup included the 2026 World Champions, so the level of competition was exceptionally high. Even so, the match remained evenly contested until the very end. In the end, I think it is fair to say that friendship was the real winner,” said Akaki Iashvili.
On August 4, the players contested 4 Rapid (15+10) games. Each game was played with 15 minutes per player plus a 10-second increment per move from move one. The Kazakhstan Boys Team scored 14.5 points, while the World Boys Team finished with 9.5.
Edgar Mamedov (U18) and Sauat Nurgaliyev (U16) each contributed 3.5 points to the Kazakhstan Boys Team, Mark Smirnov (U14) scored 2 points, Alimzhan Zhauynbay (U12) added 3, Rizat Ulan (U10) contributed 1, and Aslan Endibayev (U8) scored 1.5.
For the World Boys Team, Emanuel Kot (Canada, U18) scored 0.5 points, Pau Marin Ferragut (Spain, U16) also contributed 0.5, Damir Bulgak (Belarus, U14) scored 2, Boris Kolodziejczyk (France, U12) added 1, Nurmuhammad Nematillakhonov (Uzbekistan, U10) scored 3, and Jin Yuxin (China, U8) contributed 2.5.
The World Girls Team defeated the Kazakhstan Girls Team 18:6. For the World Girls Team, Valeria Kleymenova (FIDE, U18) scored 2 points, Veranika Abramkina (Belarus, U16) added 3, Zahra Allahverdi (Azerbaijan, U14) contributed 2.5, Alisa Henrietta Junker (FIDE, U12) scored 4, Chen Zhihan (China, U10) added 2.5, and Sun Yunjin (China, U8) contributed 4.
For the Kazakhstan Girls Team, Zarina Nurgaliyeva (U18) scored 2 points, Elnaz Kaliakhmet (U16) added 1, Alanna Berikkyzy (U14) contributed 1.5, and Alisha Bissaliyeva (U10) scored 1.5.
On August 5, the teams played 8 Blitz (5+3) games. The Kazakhstan Boys Team defeated the World Boys Team 27.5:20.5. Edgar Mamedov (U18) scored 6 points for the host team, Sauat Nurgaliyev (U16) added 4.5, Mark Smirnov (U14) contributed 4, Alimzhan Zhauynbay (U12) scored 5, Rizat Ulan (U10) added 3.5, and Aslan Endibayev (U8) contributed 2.5. Danis Kuandykuly, who played as a reserve, added another 2 points to the team’s total.
For the World Boys Team, Emanuel Kot (Canada, U18) scored 2 points, Pau Marin Ferragut (Spain, U16) added 2.5, Damir Bulgak (Belarus, U14) contributed 3, Boris Kolodziejczyk (France, U12) scored 3, Nurmuhammad Nematillakhonov (Uzbekistan, U10) added 4.5, and Jin Yuxin (China, U8) contributed 5.5.
The World Girls Team defeated the Kazakhstan Girls Team 27:21. For the World Girls Team, Valeria Kleymenova (FIDE, U18) scored 5 points, Veranika Abramkina (Belarus, U16) added 3, Zahra Allahverdi (Azerbaijan, U14) contributed 1.5, Alisa Henrietta Junker (FIDE, U12) scored 7, Chen Zhihan (China, U10) added 7.5, and Sun Yunjin (China, U8) contributed 3.
For the Kazakhstan Girls Team, Zarina Nurgaliyeva (U18) scored 3 points, Elnaz Kaliakhmet (U16) added 5, Alanna Berikkyzy (U14) contributed 6.5, Zhansaya Sholpanbek (U12) scored 1, Alisha Bissaliyeva (U10) added 0.5, and Venera Zhakisheva (U8) contributed 5.
The event is organized by the International Chess Federation (FIDE), the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kazakhstan Chess Federation, and the Akimat of the city of Almaty.
