Zhansaya Abdumalik


Zhansaya Abdumalik is a Kazakhstani chess player holding the titles of International Master and Woman Grandmaster. A chess prodigy, she twice won the World Youth Chess Championships in her age and gender category. She holds three Grandmaster norms, and only needs to achieve a rating of 2500 to qualify for the GM title.

Chess career

Zhansaya began attending a chess school, along with her older brother, at six years old, and in January 2007 she won her first trophy at a national tournament. In 2008, she won the girls U8 section at both the Asian Youth Chess Championship, held in Tehran, and the World Youth Chess Championships in Vũng Tàu, Vietnam. In the 2010 World Youth Championships in Porto Carras, she shared 1st–2nd places in the girls U10 division, taking the silver medal on tiebreak. As a result, she earned the title of Woman FIDE Master. In 2011, she was awarded the Woman International Master title as a result of her joint first place at the girls U20 division of the 12th ASEAN+ Age Group Championships held in Tarakan, Indonesia. Later that same year, Zhansaya won the girls U12 title at the World Youth Championships held in Caldas Novas, Brazil.
In September 2013, she finished as runner-up in the World Junior Girls Chess Championship; thanks to this achievement, she was voted the best girl under-20 player of 2013 at the 1st Annual Asian Chess Excellence Awards, held in June 2014 in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.
In November 2013, she won the Brno Open in the Czech Republic scoring 7½/9 points. Zhansaya won the bronze medal in the Asian Women's Blitz Championship of 2014. She won the bronze medal also at the 2015 World Junior Girls Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk. In 2016, she won the women's championship of Kazakhstan and the 6th Krystyna Hołuj-Radzikowska Memorial in Wrocław, Poland.
Zhansaya has played for team Kazakhstan in the Women's Chess Olympiad, Women's World Team Chess Championship and Women's Asian Nations Chess Cup. In the 2016 Asian Nations Cup she won the team bronze medal and an individual silver playing board two.
In July 2017, Abdumalik earned her first GM norm with a score of 7/9 at the World Open. The following year, she earned her final two GM norms in succession at the Karpos Open in March and the Budapest Spring Festival in April.

Personal life

Abudmalik began playing chess at the age of five. Along with her elder brother Sanzhar, she began training with Tamara Gudova. When she was seven, she began working with Nikolay Peregudov. In 2012, she moved to the ASEAN Chess Academy in Singapore where she trained with GM Zhang Zhong. Her current coaches are GM David Arutyunyan and GM Vladimir Chuchelov.
In January 2014, Anatoly Karpov visited Almaty to open the newly established Zhansaya Abdumalik Chess Academy. Karpov and Abdumalik also played a four-game match after the ceremony. Karpov won both rapid games, while Abdumalik won one blitz game and the second one was drawn.