The Menchik Memorial Challengers Tournament 2024 was a 10-player round-robin, held from the 30th of August to the 3rd of September in London, United Kingdom. Andreea Navrotescu stunned everyone with a perfect 9,0/9 score. Chessdom had the pleasure to talk to Andreea about her success, her goals, and upcoming tournaments.
Hello, Andreea! You have just achieved 9,0/9! Impressive result, how does it feel to have such a dominant win?
It feels a bit weird because on paper 9/9 sounds crazy but in real life I just took it game by game and it did not seem insurmountable. I’m obviously really happy for the result itself but most importantly I am proud of the quality of my games that certainly reflects in the score !
When did you realize you can go for a perfect score?
After round 7 I thought “you know what, this is beginning to look like something !” and from then on 9/9 became the clear objective just because it looked super cool and also because I could clearly brag about it like I’m doing it right now :)
Where did you draw inspiration from? We all remember the 8,0/8 Olympiad start of Gukesh or the performance of Fabiano Caruana at the Sinquefield Cup
Yes, I did indeed remember those two out-of-the-world performances. They are obviously more significant than mine but nonetheless it is extremely flattering to be even remotely associated with those! As a matter of fact, I tagged Fabi in my post on X and he congratulated me, as well as Susan Polgar. This certainly adds credit to my achievement !
71 ELO points! This is also a great addition to the trophy and the victory. What are your next goals
Yes I am quite pleased to return to a rating not far from my peak (2373). It looks like I will be over 2350+ on the next rating list, which will also bring me closer to the top on the French Women’s rating list. My next goal is certainly to become an IM since I already have one norm and the rating is not so far from 2400. I would also really enjoy qualifying for the World Cup one day but for that I have to pump up my rating.
Which is the next tournament where you will play?
I will play in the Romanian league before the new rating kicks in so that will be another occasion for me to harvest some rating hopefully ! And then I have a team in the European Club Cup, so that shall be exciting as well !
I am actually willing to play more leagues so if you’re looking for a 2350+ female player, I am your woman !
The Chess Olympiad 2024 is coming. Your prediction for medalists in the open and women sections?
I will try not to be biased for this question since I am rooting both for France and Romania. There is actually a difference between who I want to win and who I think will win realistically speaking. Let’s go for the realistic predictions: in the women’s section, I think China will clinch the title. Poland 2nd and India 3rd. In the open section, I’m going to go with India 1st, Uzbekistan 2nd and the US as 3rd. If France or Romania were to get on the podium, that would be fantastic though !
More about Chess Olympaid 2024 : Live blog / Participants open / Participants women / All news about Chess Olympiad 2024
Photo credit: French Chess Federation
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