European Club Cup 2018
It's been hectic, chaotic, exhausting yet curiously rewarding time since the Olympiad finished.
In the few days between the Olympiad and the European Club Cup I thought I would rest, but life thought otherwise. So going to Porto Carras I was already tired. My job was not to play, but to coach and help my Italian women team of Caissa Italia Pentole Agnelli to reach the summit of Europe.
We really had a great team, comprised of top players: Valentina Gunina, world's number 9, Elisabeth Paehtz, world's number 10, Stavroula Tsolakidou, a triple World Champion (U14, U16 and U18) and one of the brightest young talents, Olga Zimina, reigning Italian champion and Marina Brunello, reigning Italian vice-champion and fresh from winning the gold medal on her board at the Batumi Olympiad.
The atmosphere in the team was one that was envied by all present in Porto Carras. We were always together, supporting each other, making sure everybody was comfortable and laughing and having a great time. Some Facebook photos easily confirm this.
Unfortunately there was one factor that we couldn't control and that cost us dearly. That factor was fatigue. All the players were crucial for their teams in Batumi and played a lot of games there - Lisa played all 11, Valentina, Stavroula, Olga and Marina played 10. There were no easy matches in Porto Carras (we underestimated this fact in the beginning!) and the inner resilience that is required for a team to do well in a tough tournament was lacking because there was no energy for it - the girls were simply out of steam by the time they arrived in Greece.
Already the first match showed the problems we were facing. Playing against the weaker on paper but highly motivated team from St. Petersburg we were lucky to draw the match. The game on Board 1 was one of the craziest I've witnessed in person. The comments are my impressions while watching the game standing behind Valentina. I leave it to the reader to decide whether to switch an engine on or not.
When the tournament starts with a game like this, there are only two options - either everything will go your way or it won't. Unfortunately for us, it was the latter.
Even though we won the next two matches against weaker opposition (one of these teams was our second Caissa Italia team) it was clear that the girls were not playing well. There were blunders galore and an apparent lack of energy. This showed in the 4th round when we faced the leaders Monte Carlo.
A win would have assured us of a qualification for the semi-finals (the women's tournament was played not as a normal Swiss but rather a system of two all-play-all groups with the first two of each group qualifying for the semi-finals). We approached the match seriously and prepared well. I was happy to see our preparation on all four boards, especially on Board 1 where Valentina managed to catch Anna Muzychuk in a forced line in the Exchange Slav.
But then things started to go down...
