Amangul Berdieva (née Durdyeva;[1] born 1987[2]) is an English draughts and international draughts player from Turkmenistan. She is twice women's world champion of English draughts (also known as checkers) in both 3-Move and GAYP (Go As You Please) versions.
Amangul Berdieva won the first women's GAYP World Qualifier tournament in 2005 in Prague, ahead of New Zealander Jan Mortimer. [3] The former was awarded the Women's World GAYP Champion title in 2006 after the latter withdrew from the world title match. [2]
In 2007 she defeated Patricia Breen in Buncrana, Ireland[4] to become the new women's world champion in the 3-Move checkers.[2][5] Berdieva successfully defended her title in 2011 in Balkanabat, Turkmenistan against her compatriot Hurmagul Toyeva. [6]
At the 2012 World Mind Sports Games Berdieva took 2nd place in English draughts, losing the gold to Ukrainian Nadiya Chyzhevska. [7] Amangul Berdieva did not take part in the World GAYP Championships in 2013, thus forfeiting her world title, which went to Chyzhevska. [8] In 2016, Berdieva regained her world title by coming first in the women's round-robin tournament in Rome. [9][10]
Berdieva's brother and coach, Maksat Durdyev, was world junior champion in English draughts (3-Move version) from 2010 to 2016.[11] All five of her siblings and her father play the game at a professional level. [12]