"I expected this result from our female chess players. I was trusting them."
Zeynab Mamedyarova, a former chess player of the Azerbaijan national team, said this in an interview with the Idman.biz.
The 40-year-old grandmaster commented on the silver medal of our women's team at the inter-team European championship in Budva, Montenegro. He said that fighting as a team of our chess players played an important role in our achievement of historical success: "They always act together. They have good friendship and spend their days together. This is one of the main reasons for the victory. Also, everyone expected good results from them as they were noticed with their successful performances in the last competitions. Our chess players were ranked 2nd in the European Championship and in the end they took this place very easily. With 15 points, their followers were 3 points ahead of other countries such as France, Poland, and Germany. The big score difference showed that our chess players are very strong. They could even take the 1st place. Till the last moment, they had a chance to do it."
According to Mamedyarova, it is too early to call the national team consisting of Gunay Mammadzada, Ulviyya Fataliyeva, Govhar Beydullayeva, Gulnar Mammadova and Khanim Balajayeva the strongest chess team in the history of Azerbaijan: "During the leadership of Aynur Sofiyeva, we had Firuza Valikhanli, Nigar Soltanova and other great chess players. They achieved very good results for that time. The competitions of that period were also very difficult. I would not say that this is the strongest team in the history of Azerbaijan, but it is heading towards it. This will be the time when our girls will take the 1st place in the European Championship, where Russia will also participate. Because the participation factor of our northern neighbors is very important and they finish as winners in most of the competitions they participate in. The lack of Russian chess players also affects the results somewhat. I think that if our girls go at this speed, they will win a medal in the chess Olympics in the near future."
Director of the Sumgayit Olympic Sports Complex also commented on the unsuccessful performance of the Azerbaijani national team, which was performed by her brother Shahriyar Mammadyarov, the grandmaster. He explained the reasons for the poor performance of our team, which is the rating-favorite of the championship: "Recently, the leader Teymur Rajabov has been relatively distant from chess. He can't do this sport as much as before. Shahriyar also has some problems with his training. Blanks are created if a poor result is shown in boards 1 and 2. Unfortunately, our other chess players are not at the level of Teymur and Shahriyar. For this reason, it is necessary to pay attention to children's chess. Serious work is being done on it in the last 2 years. I am sure that in the next 2-3 years, we will have people with good intelligence."
Mamedyarova also mentioned the decision of the Executive Committee of the Azerbaijan Chess Federation for the development of children's chess. Now our chess players must play 18 active games in 10 months: "This means that they must stay in chess. They will not be satisfied with playing in tournaments once a year. I accept this as a very correct decision and I believe that it will greatly benefit us for high results."
It should be noted that the Azerbaijani national chess team, consisting of our male chess players, finished 18th with 9 points.
Emin Aga
Idman.biz
