IM Ramazan Zhalmakhanov and WIM Meruert Kamalidenova claim Kazakhstan Chess Championships 2022

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The 2022 National Chess Championship of Kazakhstan was played from 2nd-11th December in Semey, with the teen chess stars clinching the national titles in both Open and Women’s sections. The 20-year-old IM Ramazan Zhalmakhanov and 17-year-old WIM Meruert Kamlidenova cruised to the Winners’ podium.

The 9th seed (according to ratings) IM Ramazan Zhalmakhanov won the Open event scoring unbeaten 9/13 points. Zhalmakhanov was an entire point ahead of the runner-ups IM Kazybek Nogerbek and GM Denis Makhnev who tied for second place with 8 points, each. Tiebreak criteria determined Nogerbek as silver and Makhnev as bronze medalists.

The rating favourite of the Women’s competition, WIM Meruert Kamalidenova, lived up to the expectations and won the Kazakhstan Women’s Chess Championship. It was a tense fight until the very last minute of the event as WIM Meruert Kamalidenova had a bye pairing in the last round and WIM Alua Nurmanova could have caught her on top if winning the final game. However, Nurmanova couldn’t prevail and made a draw, while WIM Meruert Kamlidenova celebrated the national title and pocketed the money prize of 1600 euros.

WIM Xeniya Balabayeva and WIM Amina Kairbekova tied for bronze, with tiebreaks determining Balabayeva as the bronze medalist.

The Kazakhstan Chess Championships 2022 took place from 2nd-11th December in Semey, Kazakh part of Siberia. The Open Championship was played as a 14-player round-robin tournament, while the Women’s event gathered 11 players who competed in 10 round-robin rounds. The event featured a prize pool of 10.000 euros with a 5.000 euros prize fund for the Open event and a 5.000 euros prize fund for the Women’s Championship.

Official website

Final standings:

1	WIM	Kamalidenova, Meruert	2377	8
2	WIM	Nurmanova, Alua	2191	7½
3	WIM	Balabayeva, Xeniya	2183	6½
4	WIM	Kairbekova, Amina	2209	6½
5	WIM	Serikbay, Assel	2230	6
6	WIM	Nurgali, Nazerke	2168	5½
7	WIM	Sultanbek, Zeinep	1891	5
8	WFM	Nurgaliyeva, Zarina	2013	3½
9	WFM	Kaliakhmet, Elnaz	1786	2½
10		Kaldarova, Ayaulym	1832	2
11		Popandopulo, Kristina	1846	2

1	IM	Zhalmakhanov, Ramazan	2401	9
2	IM	Nogerbek, Kazybek	2468	8
3	GM	Makhnev, Denis	2481	8
4	GM	Kazhgaleyev, Murtas	2507	7½
5	IM	Agmanov, Zhandos	2442	7½
6		Utegaliyev, Azamat	2445	7
7	IM	Urazayev, Arystanbek	2465	7
8	IM	Aitbayev, Aslan	2421	7
9	GM	Kostenko, Petr	2374	5½
10	IM	Suleymenov, Alisher	2476	5½
11	IM	Kazakov, Konstantin	2385	5½
12	IM	Ansat, Aldiyar	2291	5
13	FM	Abdilkhair, Abilmansur	2278	4½
14	FM	Sapenov, Daniyal	2323	4