Zehra Topel (born April 13, 1987) is a Turkish chess player. Since 2007, she holds the

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

title of Woman International Master (WIM). Topel was born on April 13, 1987 in

Shumen Shumen ( bg, Шумен, also romanized as ''Shoumen'' or ''Šumen'', ) is the tenth largest city in Bulgaria and the administrative and economic capital of Shumen Province. Etymology The city was first mentioned as ''Šimeonis'' in 1153 by t ...

, Bulgaria to Turkish parents. Her father Cengiz Topel is a chess trainer and her mother Vildan is a nurse. She began with chess playing at the age eight when her mother presented Zehra's cousin a chess board, and her father instructed her. She moved with her father in 1997 to Istanbul, Turkey while the mother stayed in the time being in Bulgaria with Zehra's older sister Hatice. Zehra applied for Turkish citizenship, but had to wait for four years to get naturalized. In 2000, Zehra Topel was granted Turkish citizenship. In the two years from 1995 to 1997 in Bulgaria, she won many titles in her age category. However, during the time span of the first four years in Turkey, she was not permitted to represent Turkey. She spent the time before naturalization by training at home because she was not allowed to play in official national tournaments but only in unofficial ones. She won the silver medal at the 1st Mediterranean women's championship held in Lebanon in October 2003. In 2007, she was awarded the Woman International Master (WIM) title. In 2009, Zehra Topel became second in the Turkish Championship with 8/9, losing only to multiple Turkish champion WIM

Betül Cemre Yıldız Betül Cemre Yıldız Kadıoğlu (born 16 May 1989) is a top female chess player from Turkey. She is a Woman Grandmaster (WGM), and won the Turkish women's championship eleven times in total. She became in 2004 Woman International Master (WIM), ...

. She plays also

simultaneous chess A simultaneous exhibition or simultaneous display is a board game exhibition (commonly chess or Go) in which one player (typically of high rank, such as a grandmaster or dan-level player) plays multiple games at a time with a number of other p ...

. Zehra Topel attended Vissh Pedagogicheski Institut v Shumen in Bulgaria studying Anglistics. She later was educated at the Istanbul Kültür University on a chess scholarship.

Achievements

;

Turkish Chess Championship Following are the official winners of the national Turkish Chess Championships from 1962 to date. Winners : Notes References Lists of winners from the Turkish Chess Federation (TCF) {{Chess national championships Chess national championships ...

(Women's) *2001 U14 - champion *2003 U16 - champion *2007 - champion *2009 - 2nd place ;European Chess Championship *2002 - 7th place *2003 Junior - champion ;Mediterranean Chess Championship *2003 -

References

External links

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Zehra Topal at Tam SatrançZehra Topel
player profile and chess games at Chess-DB.com 1987 births People from Shumen Bulgarian female chess players Bulgarian Turks in Turkey Bulgarian emigrants to Turkey Turkish female chess players Turkish sportswomen Istanbul Kültür University alumni Living people Chess Woman International Masters {{Turkey-chess-bio-stub