Kazakhstan claimed the top two women’s places.
Fifteen-year-old Kazakh chess player Maria Kholyavko finished first among women at the international Guba Open 2026 – Group A in Azerbaijan. Her compatriot, 19-year-old Ayaulym Kaldarova, took second place among women, according to the Kazakhstan Chess Federation, DKNews.kz reports.
The result extends an impressive international season for Kholyavko, who only weeks earlier won silver at the Asian Junior Championship in Mumbai.
Kholyavko scores 6 points from nine rounds
Kholyavko collected 6 points from nine games in the main tournament.
Her record included:
- five victories;
- two draws;
- two defeats.
In the overall standings, the Kazakh player shared 5th–13th places and was ranked 12th on tiebreaks. That result was enough for her to finish as the highest-ranked woman.
Ayaulym Kaldarova scored 5 points and took second place among women, while Azerbaijan’s Lala Huseynova finished third.
The performance is particularly notable given the strength of the open field, where the young Kazakh players competed alongside experienced international masters and grandmasters.
76 players from 11 countries competed in Guba
Guba Open 2026 – 2nd International Chess Festival was held in the Azerbaijani city of Guba from September 4 to 10.
The festival was organized by the Azerbaijan Chess Federation together with the Ağ Top chess club and was dedicated to the memory of international arbiter Gudrat Ismayilov, who lived from 1961 to 2025 and headed the chess school in Guba for many years.
The main tournament brought together 76 players representing 11 countries, including:
- six grandmasters;
- ten international masters.
Azerbaijan’s Misratdin Iskandarov and Vugar Manafov topped the overall standings with 7 points each. FIDE representative Mikhail Mozharov finished third.
Official tournament records also show Kholyavko competing in Group A against titled international opposition during the nine-round event.
Kazakhstan takes first and second among women
Having two Kazakh players occupying the top two women’s positions adds significance to the result.
Kholyavko is already competing successfully beyond junior-only events. Earlier in 2026, she entered the final of the Kazakhstan Women’s Championship as the national U18 champion, while Ayaulym Kaldarova was also among the participants in the senior national competition.
Kholyavko’s international results have been particularly strong this season. At the Asian Junior Championship in Mumbai in August, she competed against players up to five years older and went unbeaten through all nine classical games.
She scored 7 points with five wins and four draws, finishing just half a point behind the champion.
Why Kholyavko’s latest result matters
At 15, Kholyavko is increasingly moving from success in age-group championships to competitive results in open tournaments.
She entered 2026 with considerable junior experience. Earlier this year, she became Kazakhstan’s U18 champion, and she was also among the country’s representatives at the World Youth Chess Championships in Italy.
The Guba result provides a different test. Instead of competing exclusively against players in her age category, Kholyavko faced an open field featuring grandmasters and international masters.
For Kazakhstan, the first and second places among women also add to a series of strong performances by the country’s young chess players in 2026. In April, Kazakhstan’s juniors won 21 medals, including nine gold, at the World Youth Rapid and Blitz Championships in Serbia — the country’s best result in the history of its participation in the event.
Just recently, we reported on Maria Kholyavko’s silver medal at the 2026 Asian Junior Championship, where the 15-year-old finished only half a point behind the winner.
