Meet Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova, Uzbekistan’s top female chess player and International Master

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Meet Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova, Uzbekistan’s top female chess player and International Master  Women’s Grandmaster Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova reflects on her journey from childhood tournaments to global success and why she sees her return to Uzbekistan as a responsibility and honour.  In partnership with Agency of Information and Mass Communications of Uzbekistan  READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/10/14/meet-gulrukhbegim-tokhirjonova-uzbekistans-top-female-chess-player-and-international-maste  Spark your senses, wake your wonder. Euronews Culture seeks to show creativity in action and inspire our audience to explore the world through the five senses. Start your journey through the best of Europe's arts, gastronomy, traditions and high-end craftsmanship.

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00:00When I became a woman Grandmaster I was very excited, happy and when I made it

00:06the top eight in the world in the Women's World Championship that was very

00:10unexpected but it was an incredible journey.

00:18I played against Koshlinskaya, Gunina and back then like former Women's World

00:23Champion, Tang Jong-Yi and I beat them all and I just lost to Joo Wenjin, current World

00:31Champion. So it was very exciting. I was back then young and I never saw such a big stage,

00:38it was the highest stage that you could hope for to compete with the greatest women's players in the

00:44world. My first achievement was I think Uzbekistan Girls Youth Championship under 10 years and when

00:52I played for the first time I made it to top 10 which was very unexpected for me because I didn't

00:58know, I didn't compete a lot or at all at this level by then and then I felt like oh it's something

01:06interesting and second time when I competed under the same age group I won the silver medal by losing

01:14only in tie breaks which is still heartbreaking but it showed me that I can do that and I just kept

01:21going and when I was 12 years old I got national master I made it to the higher league and that's

01:28how it all just started and when I was 16 I completed my WGM norms and become a women's current master.

01:38I'm very happy first of all to be back to Uzbekistan, to be back to participating under Uzbek flag.

01:45It has always been my honor and coming back to such an amazing environment where chess is appreciated,

01:54where chess is loved is incredibly amazing. I saw the opportunity, I saw the changes, I saw how the

02:02president supports the players, I saw how the president supports the country. Without him I think

02:09we wouldn't achieve, even young players wouldn't achieve such results. Recently he personally gave

02:14me a medal called Kelecek Minotkar which is the builder of the future. When I received the medal

02:20from our president I felt huge honor. I was like oh my god like I cannot believe this is happening. He

02:30trusts us, our government, our country trusts us in ways no one did before. I was definitely honored at the

02:37same time I felt the responsibility behind it because if people of your nation, president of your

02:44nation is trusting you so you have to do things because especially as a cold medal builder of the

02:51future it means you have to show up. You have to show up not only for yourself not only for your nation

02:57it's just you have to show up for the younger generation you have to show them hey we can do that

03:04we could do that so you can.

03:08We have great young chess players both male and female and Abdusattar of Naderbeg made it the top 10

03:15in the world which is an incredible achievement and it takes a lot of work courage to get there so

03:22and also we have other like Sindarov and other very young players many many more grandmasters

03:29who are making chess like incredible for Uzbek people Uzbek players are at the work stage and

03:40Uzbek people follow Uzbek fans follow and also it creates all the atmosphere when you have strong

03:46young talents for Hungary to achieve a lot in their life it's a huge motivation for the whole fans whole country.

03:54I always say for young people when it comes to chess it's very important to be able to do the same

04:02thing any sports every day you have to have the discipline so I would say no matter what you do

04:08in your life have a discipline make sure you're doing your work don't be afraid of doing the hard

04:15thing do the right thing and never give up and I think you'll achieve everything you want. I really hope

04:20I can bring a lot of motivation under Uzbek women's chess team and we can do great things together.

04:27My future plans are honestly I want to get ready for the upcoming chess olympiad next year I will be

04:35competing for the Uzbek Sun women's team I'm very excited for our team I think we have great young

04:42players to play alongside with and at the same time I want to achieve grandmaster norms and the title

04:50eventually so I will work for it and definitely play some strong tournaments for it.

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