Zhansaya Abdumalik

Zhansaya Abdumalik at the World Junior Chess Championship in Athens, 2012.
Full name	Zhansaya Daniyarqyzy Abdumalik
Country	Kazakhstan
Born	12 January 2000 Almaty, Kazakhstan
Title	Woman Grandmaster (2014)
Peak rating	2411 (April 2015)

Zhansaya Daniyarqyzy Abdumalik (Kazakh: Жансая Даниярқызы Әбдімәлік; born 12 January 2000) is a Kazakhstani chess Woman Grandmaster (WGM) and chess prodigy. She won the U-8 Girls' World Championship in 2008 and the U12 Girls' World Championship in 2011.

Chess career

At the age of 6, Abdumalik and her older brother began attending a chess school. In just over a year, Zhansaya won her first trophy at a national tournament in January 2007. Her first big jump in chess came at the 2008 World Youth Chess Championship where she convincingly won the gold medal in the Under-8 Girls section with 1,5 points ahead of competition. She became a titled player at the Under-10 Girls World Chess Championship in Porto Carras where in the strongest ever U10 age category she shared 1st-2nd place and earned her Woman FIDE Master (WFM) title. Shortly after came the Woman International Master (WIM) title with a final norm at the 12th ASEAN+AGE Group Championships 2011. The same year as a WIM she conquered the World Chess Championship title U12 in Brazil.

In September 2013, she was the runner-up in the World Junior Girls Chess Championship. In November 2013, she won the Brno Open in Czech Republic with 7.5/9. Abdumalik 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 Chess Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk.

Personal life

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 (20 minutes per player), while Abdumalik won one blitz game and the second one was drawn.