Chess player Gergana Peycheva, who recorded the victory that brought Bulgaria the European title in Budva, is already flying to the United States, where she is a student. She and her teammates – the new golden girls of Bulgaria – parted ways at the airport. They went to Sofia, and she went to Dallas.
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 dramatic game against the Georgian Lela Yavakishvili, who passed with an almost lost position on the part of our girl.
“It didn’t start the game well, but when you go to such a championship you have to fight to the end and I succeeded.” declared the new European champion for the victory over her much more experienced rival.
“Without Antoinette Stefanova, the newly formed federation headed by Milen Vasilev and Georgi Gradev, who supported them in Budva, this could hardly have happened”, comments Svetoslav Peychev on the latest events in his native chess, in which at least 6 federations are fighting for power, and the difficult situation may be about to be resolved.
Bulgaria participates with a “wild card” and consent from the regular members of the European Association. This makes the triumph even more special, and the Bulgarian Sports Chess Federation, behind which Vassilev, Gradev and Stefanova stand, does not yet have a license in our country, another organization has one.
“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 am very happy that my daughter thanked everyone after the victory and me and her mother, she appreciates what they do for her.” Gergana’s father added.
His daughter has not received anything from the federations over the years, she has 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 are underage, a parent travels with them, so the amount doubles, 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.
