Bulgaria's national women's chess team wins European title

At the European championship in Budva, Antoaneta Stefanova, Nurgül Salimova, Viktoriya Radeva, Gergana Peycheva and Beloslava Krasteva achieved the biggest success in the history of the national women's team, finishing with 16 match points after seven wins, two draws and no losses and overtaking second-placed Azerbaijan by one point.

In the ninth and final round, the Bulgarians achieved a memorable 2.5-1.5 points victory against the number one ranked team and runner-up at the last Chess Olympiad, Georgia.

Victories for Bulgaria were achieved by Antoaneta Stefanova on board one and Gergana Peycheva on board three, with Peycheva's success securing the title and coming from a position where the Bulgarian was very close to losing.

The match between the Bulgarians and the Georgians started with a very quick draw on the second board. Already on the 18th move, Nino Batsiashvili and Nurgyul Salimova made a triple repeat, which automatically brought a draw in the game.

About two and a half hours later, the two teams traded one win each within a few minutes. First on the first board, former world champion Antoaneta Stefanova prevailed over Bella Khotenashvili in 31 moves. Stefanova had an advantage in the debut and methodically managed to develop it. She was given an extra bishop in the endgame and that led to Khotenashvili surrendering just minutes later.

On the fourth board, however, Salome Melia leveled the score at 1.5:1.5 with a victory with the white pieces over Beloslava Krasteva. The Georgian managed to surprise Krasteva in the Sicilian Defense version with the four horses and despite the Bulgarian's attempts to draw the game, she was not successful and Melia won after 36 moves.

Thus, the outcome of the match between Bulgaria and Georgia had to be decided between Gergana Peycheva and Lela Javakhishvili, who were playing at the third table.

The two played a Nimzowitsch variant in New Indian defense and from the opening the board position was even, but also very complicated. On move 30, Javakhishvili managed to win a pawn, giving her a slight advantage. Six moves later, Peycheva restored material equality on the board, but the initiative remained with the Georgian playing with the black pieces.

The party continued to be very exciting, and Peycheva seemed to lose. However, the Bulgarian showed exceptional intransigence and in the end not only leveled the game, but also managed to get the victory after nearly 6 hours of play, forcing Javakhashvili to surrender on the 83rd move.

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