As the first Turkish Woman Grandmaster “WGM,” Kübra Öztürk has not only made Turkish chess history but also unveiled future plans to capture the “Grandmaster” title in men.

Our chess player, Kübra Öztürk took on Indian Harika Dronovaelli in the Final of World Youth Chess Championship held in Gaziantep City. Although she lost her game, she gained the title of WGM, because she was playing against a grandmaster from men’s category.
After the tournament, Öztürk explained that in order to become a grandmaster, one needed 3 WGM titles and more than 2300 ELO points. “ELOs are official points given after each chess game, and I presently have 2230 ELO points.  It is more difficult to earn a WGM title, because you have to play against a grandmaster each time. In this tournament, I won a WGM title for the first time in Turkey. It is an important step towards becoming a grandmaster,” said Öztürk.
Besides finishing second in the World Youth Chess Championship, Kübra has various European and 7 Turkish first-place titles under her belt. She added that she started playing chess after winning the elementary school selections and continued:
“Although my father played it during his military service, my family did not know much about chess when I was beginning to get involved with it. But now, they are all interested in this sport as much as I am, and they are quite happy with my achievements. Chess is a game for the brain and I recommend it to all youngsters. Some doctors even advise it to hyperactive children. It is not an expensive sport and can be easily learned from internet.
This sport is rapidly getting popular in Turkey. Few years back nobody knew anything about the chess, but I am pleased to see that it is a quite different today.”