7 July 2016
Evgenija Ovod: If You Believe, the Fairy Tale Will Come to Life
The Higher League winner answered the questions of Eteri Kublashvili.
- Evgenija, please accept my congratulations on your victory! Did you worry a lot before the ultimate game?
- It was somewhat easier for me than for many other participants since I had already secured qualification into the Superfinal, and the struggle was already revolving around the first place, which I wanted to take, however. The game was anything but simple (laughing). I committed a number of errors and had only a miracle to hope for. I am very happy that the miracle did happen.
- Do you think that you have had a lot of luck playing into your hands during this tournament?
- It seems to me that taking first place without any luck at your side along the way is very difficult in principle. It proved true especially at the ultimate round when I got extremely lucky.
- It has happened at least a couple of times, right?
- At least twice for sure that I got lucky on a grand scale. Yet another time that luck was on my side was in round three when Polina Shuvalova simply offered me a draw in a winning position.
- Can we say that the key moment occurred when you defeated Dasha Pustovoitova?
- I do not know how much this moment has turned into a key one, but we can safely say that after that round I advanced into the lead, and the outlines of the first place started looming on the horizon more clearly.
- How do you evaluate your performance on a whole? Are you happy with the quality of your games?
- If not considering the last game, my tournament performance was rather smooth, even confident. As for my game against Polina Shuvalova, I was acting in a sweeping manner, but the game was very interesting nonetheless. At some point it was unclear who was attacking whom. However, such reckless play is best avoided (laughing).
- The tournament was held at Kolomna for the first time. Have you been here before?
- No, this is my first time in Kolomna. I did like it here. I have been to both rest day excursions, even went to see the "The Tsar's Bride" opera on the same day.
In general, everything belonging to "retro" appeals to me, let us put it like this. I am fond of 18-19 century's dances, I rather like that epoch. This is my hobby. However, earlier centuries appeal to me also so that the tour around the Kremlin and then the opera allowed me feeling the spirit of Ivan the Terrible's era, and I enjoyed it immensely.
- Therefore, you dress so as to try even in the least to reproduce the style of those times, don't you?
- It is anything but easy since in the 18-19 centuries the crinoline dresses would go all the way down to the floor, which are not worn nowadays.
- But you must agree that the dresses you wear do look interesting.
- It might be so, but it is not up to me to judge (laughing). I can say about my hobby that I have been attracted to that era and its manners ever since childhood. Meanwhile, nothing is impossible, as it turned out, because the dances allow me diving into those times.
- So, do you take a professional approach to historical dances, being part of a harmonious team?
- No, I do not do it professionally. As my initial idea was to improve my overall physical condition, I went to the cultural center and was offered to try myself in dancing. Although at first I thought that historical folk dances have mostly to do with the Russian folk dances, which I do not like particularly, I still decided to give it a try. However, on coming to the class and seeing pictures from performances, I found out that these were quite different dances, which I thought existed only in my dreams. That is, the classes proved beneficial both for physical improvement and for the soul.
- Please tell us something about yourself. Do you reside in the Leningrad Region?
- I have been performing for the Leningrad Region since childhood. I graduated from school at the town Slantsy, and now I belong to the club named after Chigorin.
- Do you keep commuting or have you moved into St.Petersburg?
- I have moved there.
- Which higher educational institution did you go to?
- I studied at the Leningrad State University named after Pushkin, which used to be a regional institution back then.
- Do you rate yourself as a chess professional?
- Yes, I do. The story of how I started playing chess is just amazing. This is fate, to a certain degree. My parents played chess against each other, I felt very attracted to this game, and asked them to play with me. At the time I was going in for gymnastics at the youth athletic center and they told me that there was a chess club opposite the gym. I went there, a coach assessed me and told me to come next year. I came next year and reminded, "You promised to take me into a group," and he did assign me to a group. However, the group consisted of boys only. About half a year later it happened so that someone hit me or something of the kind occurred, and I broke into tears. The coach says, "You're a boy, why are you crying?" I respond, "I am a girl." He would not believe me, "Is Evgeny Ovod really a girl?" He then approaches other coach and says, "Hey, she is indeed a girl." The other coach responds, "What, are you crazy? He is a boy," but the first coach says, "He himself says that he is a girl."
That is, it turned out that during all these six months the coach believed me to be a first grade boy, who managed to catch up with those who already advanced into the second or third years of chess coaching. After it all cleared up, he did not transfer me another coach, who was much weaker, and with whom I would have hardly made any progress at all. This is how my chess career started.
- This is an interesting story indeed. Would you like to take up a coaching career yourself?
- At the moment I plan to go on playing myself.
- What are your nearest tournament?
- I will take part in the rapid and blitz tournaments in Sochi and then will play in the Superfinal. I have not given any thought to other tournaments just yet.
I have been really lacking confidence lately, although I have recently written a story based on our dances, which is titled "If you believe, the fairy tale will come to life." We staged it at our classes, me playing a leading role. Meanwhile, this idea about Vera (hope) that occurred to me has gradually helped me to start believing in myself again and, perhaps, contributed to the Miracle, through which I took the first place. I will get down to preparing for the Superfinal. I do want to believe that victory in this tournament is only the beginning!
We wrap up the review with the winner's games.
