In an exclusive interview for the Sport in Bulgaria Foundation, Bulgaria’s best chess player Nurgyul Salimova shared her thoughts about the upcoming events, including the Chess Olympics in Budapest. The Bulgarian player did not hide her desire to reach the Grandmaster standard for men. “I have a few more tournaments that are part of my preparation for the Chess Olympics, as well as for rating. Of course, I am chasing my third grandmaster norm for men – the third and final one,” Nurgul said excitedly.

The past year has been extremely successful for the 21-year-old Salimova, who achieved remarkable results in both her individual and team competitions. Now for the “shining rose” there are some serious events ahead, some of them team events. “All events are equally challenging, but the team events are one level harder for me. I believe it is the same for every athlete as you are not only playing there for yourself, but also for the team – like it was last year when we played for Bulgaria,” Nurgyul said.

It is the aspiration of our young chess player that more and more girls will take up the sport, and she believes that soon there will be a woman who will be equal to men again. “I have always said that if we are talking about chess, I would like to see more girls getting involved in chess, I am not just talking about Bulgaria, I am talking globally,” Salimova said.

According to her, psychological preparation is crucial when it comes to equalizing the forces between the sexes. Nurgyul is confident that with proper preparation, Bulgarian chess will achieve great success. “We have a strong generation of girls, we have become European champions. We also have promising youngsters. The Chess Olympics in Budapest are coming up in a few months, I hope that we will show there again a similar result to the one from Budva. We are all working hard for that,” Salimova said.

Nurgyul is of the opinion that the main factor behind victories in sport is hard work and for this reason she plays chess almost every day. “I haven’t seen anyone reach the top with talent alone, but with work, yes. It’s best to have both,” the chess player commented. She guessed that in her childhood she was superstitious and wore a necklace with a pink elephant whenever she played. Today, Nurgyul follows a ritual only – she hears from her mother before every game.

You can find out more interesting facts about the 21-year-old chess player by listening to the full interview here: