Abu Dhabi: On a giant chess board at the lobby of the 21st Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival venue, a little girl is going through a gymnastics routine.
Her moves are flawless and hard to miss, but few would know that this budding 10-year-old Kazakh prodigy is actually a chess wizard.
Assaubayeva Bibissara is already a big name in the board game as she is a four-time world champion and is one of the most decorated young sportswomen of her age.
Bibissara is not taking part in her age group but among the best in the business against some people twice her age in the Open category, in which she is very much on course for the title.
“We wanted to give her a run in the Open category. She has reached round seven playing against players twice her age or more and hopefully will carry on and win here. It is good to expose her to the best players around,” said her mother Liana, who doesn’t understand the game much but makes it a point to accompany her daughter everywhere whenever possible.
Bibissara’s love for the sport started from the tender age of four and she attributes her success to the lessons she got from her grandfather and chess great Alexandra Kostyuk.
“The credit goes to my grandfather but I started dreaming big after watching the president of Fide – Kirsan Ilyumzhinov hand Kostyuk a gold medal and there was also a crown on her head. Since then I wanted to become world champion,” said Assaubayeva, who is also interested in artistic gymnastics.
“I have a great interest in gymnastics and I do take part in competitions back home. However, you can say it is my second passion and I can’t give more time to gymnastics since I have to focus on chess. However, I do practise whenever I have time,” added Bibissara, who also holds the title of ‘Woman Fide Master’.
Meanwhile, Bibissara’s father Muslim Tameer, said gymnastics had helped his daughter improve her concentration. “Gymnatics has helped Bibissara in chess as well I must say. She can focus better than before. It’s two separate sports and, as long as she is enjoying doing both, we would like to support her in every possible way.”
Despite Bibissara’s success, sponsorship is something that the parents have struggled with. “Most times we have to pay on our own. Of course, the chess federation back home does support her, but that’s not enough. Chess is still not popular in Kazakhstan but people do recognise Bibissara’s effort,” said the proud father of his daughter, who won the Dubai Open earlier this year.
Meanwhile, India’s Murali Karthikeyan is on course to create history after he defeated Grandmaster Sergey Volkov of Russia in the seventh round of 21st Abu Dhabi International Chess tournament being held here on Wednesday.
This was Karthikeyan’s fourth successive win over the Grandmaster and he is now very much on course to join the elite list of Grandmasters.
The 15-year-old pocketed six points out of the possible seven and he now has 2,830 ELO points as per Fide charts.
Karthikeyan’s compatriot and Grandmaster Vidit Santosh Gujrathi and GN Gopal are half a point behind in second place.
With just two rounds to go, an Indian victory looks imminent but Chinese top seed Wang Hao is still lurking behind on five points. Two more victories from Hao still can change things at the top of the order.
