Zhansaya Abdumalik

Zhansaya Abdumalik
Born	(2000-01-12) January 12, 2000 Almaty, Kazakhstan
Occupation	Chess player
Known for	First female Grandmaster from Kazakhstan and Central Asia

Jansaia Daniarqyzy Äbdımälik (; born 12 January 2000) is a distinguished chess competitor from Kazakhstan who has held the prestigious Grandmaster (GM) designation since 2021. She holds the distinction of being both the first female player from Kazakhstan and the broader Central Asian region to achieve the GM title, ranking as the 39th woman worldwide to do so. Äbdımälik reached a career-high FIDE rating of 2505 and attained a peak global women's ranking of No. 11. Her accolades include twice winning the girls' World Youth Championship, claiming the girls' World Junior Championship, and securing the Kazakhstani women's national championship on two occasions. Representing Kazakhstan, she has competed in major international events such as the Chess Olympiad, World Team Chess Championship, and Asian Nations Chess Cup. On April 20, 2022, she was appointed President of the Almaty Chess Federation.

Beginning her chess journey at five years old, Äbdımälik quickly demonstrated exceptional talent, qualifying for the girls' World Youth Championships by age seven and capturing gold medals in both under-8 and under-12 categories. She achieved the Woman Grandmaster (WGM) title at 14 in 2014, followed by the International Master (IM) title at 16 in 2016. After earning silver and bronze medals in under-20 girls' World Junior Championships, she ultimately secured gold in 2017. Between 2017 and 2018, she completed her GM norms and officially earned the GM title in 2021 after surpassing a 2500 rating threshold at Gibraltar during the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2019–21, where she recorded an outstanding performance rating of 2699. Her victories include wins against multiple Grandmasters rated above 2600, such as Yaroslav Zherebukh (2642), which contributed to achieving her initial GM norm.

Early life and background

Born on January 12, 2000, in Almaty, Zhansaya Abdumalik is the daughter of Alma and Daniyar Ashirov. Her surname was selected based on her paternal grandfather’s first name with the intention of inspiring future renown. She was introduced to chess by her father at age five and began formal training alongside her brother at six years old. While her brother later pursued other sports, Abdumalik remained dedicated to chess, quickly establishing herself as a prodigious talent. The same year she started structured coaching, she participated in her inaugural competition—the Almaty city championships. In early 2007, just before turning seven, she won Kazakhstan’s under-8 national championship, earning a spot in the under-8 girls’ section of the World Youth Chess Championship where she finished fourth with an 8/11 score. That year marked the beginning of her collaboration with Kazakhstani International Master Nikolay Peregudov.

In 2008, Abdumalik claimed the under-8 girls' title at the World Youth Championship held in Vũng Tàu, Vietnam, scoring an impressive 10/11 points and becoming Kazakhstan’s first-ever world chess champion. Earlier that year, she also triumphed at the Asian Youth Chess Championships in the same category. After training under Peregudov until 2011, she spent a year at Singapore’s ASEAN Chess Academy working with Grandmaster Zhang Zhong. Upon returning to Kazakhstan, her coaching team included Georgian GM David Arutinian and Belgian GM Vladimir Chuchelov, who previously coached the Dutch national team. Around age eighteen, she began training with Ukrainian GM Zahar Efimenko, known for his role as a second to former world champion Vladimir Kramnik.

2009–2014: Under-12 World Champion and WGM at 14

Abdumalik obtained her initial FIDE rating of 1854 in April 2009 when she was nine years old. At the age of 10, she received the Woman FIDE Master (WFM) title after securing the silver medal in the under-10 girls category at the 2010 World Youth Championship held in Greece. The following year, she achieved the Woman International Master (WIM) title by winning silver in the under-20 girls division at the 2011 ASEAN+ Age Group Championships in Indonesia. In both competitions, she finished tied for first but was placed second due to tiebreak criteria. During the World Championships, Abdumalik scored 9 out of 11 points, tying with champion Nomin-Erdene Davaademberel and finishing one point ahead of the third-place player. At the ASEAN event, she earned 6½ points out of 9, tying with gold medalist Võ Thị Kim Phụng and bronze medalist Chelsie Monica Ignesias Sihite.

By 2011, Abdumalik's rating surpassed both 2000 and 2100 milestones. She gained 62 rating points at the 2010 World Chess Tour IM tournament in Moscow, scoring 5½ out of 12 against opponents with higher ratings. That same year, she claimed her second World Championship title in Brazil in the under-12 girls section with an impressive score of 8 out of 9, finishing a full point ahead of her nearest rival. Additionally, she repeated as champion in the under-11 girls category at the World School Chess Championship. In 2012, she narrowly missed defending her under-12 World Championship crown, finishing tied for second place with a score of 8½ out of 11, half a point behind winner Vaishali Rameshbabu. She made her debut at the under-20 girls World Junior Chess Championship, scoring 7 out of 13. Abdumalik achieved her first Woman Grandmaster (WGM) norm during the Alushta summer tournament in Ukraine by scoring 7 out of 11 against opponents averaging a rating of 2282.

By 2013, Abdumalik had crossed rating thresholds of 2200 and then 2300. She placed second to Guliskhan Nakhbayeva in the Kazakhstani women's national championship after both finished with a score of 7 out of 9. She triumphed in both rapid and blitz events within the open section of the under-20 junior national championship. At the World Junior Championships held in Turkey, she earned silver as a 13-year-old by scoring 9½ out of 13, trailing only Aleksandra Goryachkina. Notably, she defeated strong competitors such as WGM Deysi Cori (2433). This performance secured her second WGM norm and recognition as Best Girl Under-20 at the inaugural Asian Chess Excellence Awards. Later that year, Abdumalik won the Brno Open tournament in the Czech Republic as the sixth seed, achieving a score of 7½ out of 9 and finishing one point ahead of top-rated players Toms Kantāns and Vojtěch Plát.

In early 2014, she attained her final WGM norm at the Gibraltar Chess Festival, where she scored 5½ out of 10 against opponents with an average rating of 2366, including a victory over GM Felipe El Debs (2520). After surpassing the required rating threshold of 2300, Abdumalik was awarded the WGM title shortly after turning fourteen. That year, she also earned a bronze medal at the Asian Women's Blitz Championship behind gold winner Tan Zhongyi and silver medalist Dronavalli Harika. Her highest rating during this period reached 2379.

2015–2016: Achieving International Master status

In 2015, Abdumalik fulfilled two key criteria towards obtaining her International Master (IM) title: securing her first IM norm at the Reykjavik Open and crossing the rating barrier of 2400. During Reykjavik, she defeated Icelandic grandmasters Henrik Danielsen and Héðinn Steingrímsson, concluding with a score of 6½ out of 10. Later that year, she earned bronze at the World Junior Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk, scoring 9½ out of 13 behind winners Nataliya Buksa and Alina Bivol.

The following year, Abdumalik completed all remaining requirements for her IM title. She obtained her second IM norm at the Women's Asian Nations Cup (Asian Team Chess Championship) by delivering a strong start with a score of 5½ out of 7 games. Midway through the year, as top seed, she claimed her first Kazakhstani women's national championship title by scoring seven points from nine rounds. Towards year-end, Abdumalik secured her final IM norm by winning the Krystyna Hołuj-Radzikowska Memorial tournament with a score of seven out of nine and an outstanding performance rating of 2623—well above IM norm standards but insufficient for a GM norm due to opponent composition restrictions. This accomplishment awarded her the International Master title at sixteen years old.

In rapid chess formats during this period, Abdumalik placed sixth at the Women's World Rapid Chess Championship and also took part in the Women's World Blitz Chess Championship events held in 2016.

2017–2021: World Junior Title and Attainment of Grandmaster Status

Throughout most of 2017, Abdumalik's rating hovered around the low 2400s. Although she was ranked 42nd among 118 participants at the Aeroflot Open B, she outperformed expectations by finishing 15th, just one point behind the tournament winner. Following a mid-year decline in rating, partly attributed to her third-place result at the Kazakhstan women's championship, she achieved her initial GM norm at the World Open in the United States. There, she scored 7 out of 9 points, tying for second place and securing the top prize in the 2300–2449 rating category. Among her three grandmaster victories was a win over Yaroslav Zherebukh, rated 2642, marking her highest-rated opponent defeated. Her performance rating for this event was an impressive 2650. She concluded the year by capturing the World Junior Championship in Italy with a score of 9½ out of 11, finishing one point ahead of the runner-up. At the year's end Women's World Rapid and Blitz Championships, Abdumalik achieved eighth place in Blitz competition among a field of 100 players.

At the start of 2018, Abdumalik secured her final two GM norms in quick succession—first at the Karpos Open, where she placed fifth with a score of 7 out of 9, and then at the Budapest Spring Festival, where she began with 6 out of 7 points and notably defeated GM Tamás Bánusz, rated 2617. Having completed all three required norms, she still needed to reach a minimum rating of 2500 to earn the Grandmaster title. At the Open Internacional Llucmajor in Spain, her rating peaked unofficially at 2496.5 before suffering two losses. Later that year, she advanced to the quarterfinals of the Women's World Chess Championship as the 15th seed, winning three matches via rapid tiebreaks before being eliminated by seventh seed Mariya Muzychuk.

Abdumalik maintained a solid rating in the high-2400s through 2019 and into early 2020. She was the youngest competitor in the inaugural Cairns Cup and finished mid-table with an even score of 4½ out of 9. Early in 2020 at Gibraltar, despite defeating GM M. Amin Tabatabaei (2638), her rating declined to 2461 following a disappointing performance at the Aeroflot Open A. When invited to replace Zhao Xue at the FIDE Women's Grand Prix event in Lausanne in March, Abdumalik finished third among twelve participants with a score of 6 out of 11, regaining rating points and elevating her rating to 2478.

Due to interruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Abdumalik's next competition was Kazakhstan’s national women's championship late in 2020, where she emerged victorious despite a rating dip to 2472. At the fourth stage of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix held in Gibraltar—where she required a rating increase to fulfill GM requirements—she dominated with an impressive final tally of 8½ out of 11 points. Clinching first place decisively by a margin of 1½ points and securing victory early in the tournament, she gained over 33 rating points following a grueling ninth-round win against Valentina Gunina. This accomplishment earned her the Grandmaster title at age 21, supported by a tournament performance rating of 2699. Additionally, she reached her highest-ever women’s world ranking at number eleven.

On May 30, 2022, Abdumalik clinched the Women's Bundesliga championship ahead of schedule as part of OSG Baden-Baden’s team triumph.

National representation

Abdumalik has competed for Kazakhstan in three editions of the Women's Chess Olympiad. Her first appearance was at the 2014 Tromsø Olympiad in Norway, where she played on the third board, following Guliskhan Nakhbayeva and Dinara Saduakassova, and ahead of Madina Davletbayeva and Gulmira Dauletova. Despite Kazakhstan’s average rating placing them 17th out of 136 teams, they achieved an impressive sixth-place finish, largely due to outstanding contributions from Saduakassova and Dauletova. The team accumulated 17 points with a record of +8–2=1. Abdumalik contributed 4½ points from 9 games, including the only victory for her team against Eesha Karavade in a drawn match against the higher-rated Indian squad. At the 2016 Baku Olympiad, Kazakhstan ended up 37th with 13 points (+6–4=1), falling short of their initial 31st seed. With Nakhbayeva and Saduakassova absent, Abdumalik took on the top board role and scored 6/10. In the 2018 Batumi Olympiad, Kazakhstan secured 11th place with 16 points (+6–1=4), close to their starting position of eighth. Notably, they were the sole team to defeat Georgia’s leading squad, who eventually won bronze. Abdumalik played on the second board behind Saduakassova and achieved the highest individual score on her team with 7½/11, including a victory over Georgia, although she experienced an overall rating decrease.

Abdumalik has also represented Kazakhstan in two Women's World Team Chess Championship events and three editions of the Women's Asian Nations Cup. Playing on board one at the World Team Championships, she scored 1½/8 in 2015 and improved to 3½/8 in 2019, though both performances resulted in rating losses. Conversely, her results at the Women's Asian Nations Cup showed progression: after a modest start in 2014, she earned 5½/8 in 2016, securing her second International Master norm. This included a significant victory over Mongolian WGM Batkhuyag Munguntuul. The Kazakh team won bronze behind China and Uzbekistan, with Abdumalik receiving an individual silver medal on board two. Although the team's overall standing declined in 2018, she maintained a strong personal score of 4½/6.

Playing style

When playing White, Abdumalik predominantly opens with 1.e4 (the King's Pawn Game). As Black, she frequently responds to 1.e4 by employing the Sicilian defence (1.e4 c5) and counters 1.d4 with the Grünfeld Defence (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5).

Personal life

Abdumalik pursued studies in computer programming at the Innovative Technical College located in Almaty.

In 2014, together with her parents, she established the Zhansaya Abdumalik Chess Academy, which currently operates three branches serving over 700 students. The academy was officially opened by former World Champion Anatoly Karpov, who also engaged in a four-game rapid chess match against Abdumalik, resulting in an even split of the blitz games.

Outside of chess, Abdumalik enjoys activities such as boxing, fishing, and has previously been involved in swimming.

Notable games

Zherebukh – Abdumalik, 2017

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• Yaroslav Zherebukh (2642) versus Zhansaya Abdumalik (2397), Round 8 of the 2017 World Open; Torre Attack, . Detailed commentary by National Master Sam Copeland emphasizes critical strategic decisions and pivotal moments.

Significant highlights include Abdumalik’s precise queen repositioning and a crucial knight strike at move 37...Ne2!, which secured a winning advantage and ultimately the match triumph.

External links

• Biography of Zhansaya Abdumalik