A Kurdish chess player has reached a new level in her international career by securing the Woman FIDE Master (WFM) title after competing for Iraq at the 46th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
Sara Masoud Abdullah, a member of Khanzad Chess Club and Iraq’s women’s national chess team, achieved the required performance at the Olympiad to move from Woman Candidate Master (WCM) to WFM.
Competing on Iraq’s fourth board, Abdullah played 11 games and collected 6.5 points. She recorded six victories, one draw and four defeats, including wins over opponents from Bahrain, Belgium, Poland, Ghana and Ivory Coast. Her performance rating at the event was approximately 1,893.
Abdullah arrived in Samarkand with a FIDE rating of 1,830 and the WCM title, which she had already held by 2023 when she competed in the Iraqi Women’s Championship.
The 46th FIDE Chess Olympiad took place from Sept. 16 to 27 and featured nearly 400 teams in the open and women’s competitions. The women’s tournament set a record with 189 participating teams. Iraq’s women’s team finished with 5.5 points.
The new title adds another achievement to Abdullah’s growing international record. She has represented Iraq in major regional competitions, including the 2025 Asian Zonal Women’s Championship, and has emerged as one of the country’s prominent female chess players.
Her success in Samarkand also highlights the continued participation of Kurdish players in Iraq’s national chess teams and marks another step forward in Abdullah’s development on the international chess stage.
