The champions (from left to right): Victoria Radeva, Beloslava Krasteva, Antoineta Stefanova, Nurgyul Salimova, Gergana Peycheva and manager Petar Arnaudov.
Photo: Personal archive of A. Stefanova
Chess player Gergana Peycheva, who recorded the victory that brought Bulgaria the European title in Budva last night, is already flying to the United States, where she is a student.
Her father Svetoslav told BNR what were the first words of the 20-year-old Gergana after the success of the 83rd move in the party against the Georgian Lela Yavakishvili.
“It didn’t start well, but when you go to such a championship you have to fight to the end and I succeeded,” said the new European champion about the victory over her very experienced rival.
“Without Antoinette Stefanova, the newly formed federation led by Milen Vasilev and Georgi Gradev, who supported them in Budva, this could hardly have happened,” comments Svetoslav Peychev.
“Everyone contributed to this title. Gergana started excellently and recorded 3 victories, then the other Bulgarian women also played, in the end the successes of Antoineta, Beloslava Krasteva and Nurgyul Salimova were important. I’m very happy that my daughter thanked everyone after the win and me and her mother, she appreciates what everyone is doing for her,” he added.
Gergana Peycheva has not received anything from the federations over the years, she participated everywhere and prepared with personal funds and thanks to sponsors.
Chess is an expensive sport – travel to tournaments, accommodation, paying coaches. Our young chess players owe everything to their parents. For Gergana, we have spent an amount in the order of 150-200 thousand BGN in the last 12 years. I will give as an example that a tournament in neighboring Serbia costs at least 1000 BGN. And when the contestants have not reached the age of majority, a parent travels with them, so the amount is doubled,” explained Svetoslav Peychev.
There is no rest for his daughter. She flew to Dallas, where she is a sophomore majoring in business management at UT Dallas in Richardson, a suburb of Dallas. She is invited there with a scholarship because of her chess successes. Before that, she graduated from the 91st German Language High School in Sofia.
Already tomorrow, Gergana leaves for a tournament with the university team, for which he plays on the first board.
