Nurgyul Salimova

Nurgyul Salimova (; ; born 2 June 2003) is a Bulgarian chess player. She was awarded the titles of International Master and Woman Grandmaster by FIDE in 2019. Salimova won the Bulgarian Women's Chess Championship in 2017. In 2023, she won the silver medal in Bulgarian Chess Championship, and was the only woman to compete in the open section.

Early life Salimova was born in the village of Krepcha, Targovishte Province. Both of her parents are of Turkish descent and she considers herself Turkish-Bulgarian. Her grandfather taught her how to play chess at the age of four.

Chess career In 2011, Salimova won the European Youth Chess Championship for girls under 8 in Albena. In 2015, she won the World Youth Chess Championship for girls under 12 in Porto Carras. In 2015, she won the European Youth Chess Championship for girls under 12. She is a multiple winner of Bulgarian and European Youth Chess Championships in fast and blitz chess for girls in different age groups.

Salimova won the Bulgarian Women's Chess Championship in 2017, after which she was invited to play in the C group of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament. In April 2018, Salimova became the Bulgarian champion in section G16 and 2 days later, Bulgarian blitz champion in the boys' section under 16. In May 2018, she won the Open International d'Échecs de la Côte Basque in Bayonne, France, with a performance of 2600+, enough for a GM norm. In July 2018, Salimova scored her last WIM, first IM and first WGM norm in Pardubice, Czech Republic, with a performance of 2478. Her rating subsequently rose to 2352, she became number two among Bulgarian women and number two in the under-16 girls world ranking, as well as number eleven in the world list for girls under 20. As a result of reaching the final, Salimova qualified as one of the eight participants of the Women's Candidates Tournament 2024, held from 2 April to 25 April 2024 in Toronto, Canada and received her second GM norm.