The final tournament of the fifth European Club Cup for women, which was held in Halle in Germany from 24th September to 1st October 2000, gathered ten teams from six countries: Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Slovenia, Lithuania and Yugoslavia. The first favourite, according to the average rating of players, was our team Agrouniverzal (2453). According to that criterion, in the competition for the top the Ukrainian Donbass (2387), Belgrade BAS (2378) and Russian Petrograd (2365) could participate. Without real chances for the placing at the very top were German representatives Turm, Halle and Leipzig, Slovenian Nova Gorica, Russian Alisa and Lithuanian Sirvinta. Seven rounds which were played according to the Suisse system mostly fullfilled such expectations.

Yugoslav Agrouniverzal started very powerfully. In the first round it defeated host team Halle 3½-½, and in the second it was played 2-2, with one of the favourites Petrograd, and in the third it defeated BAS, 3-1. It was just the third round which solved many dilemmas about the final placing. In other words, Agrouniverzal gained the position at the head of the table after the victory in the Yugoslav derby, because the Ukrainian Donbass defeated Russian Petrograd 2½-1½. Therefore, after three rounds our and Ukrainian champions got ahead of the nearest competitor, at that moment it was Turm, one match point, while Petrograd had even two points less. According to the lot's will the leading teams of Agrouniverzal and Donbass met in the fourth round. There was no the winner, and Petrograd took advantage of it, by winning over Turm 3-1, came closer to the leading two, for just one match point. The final outcome in the match for the champion title came with the fifth round. Agrouniverzal, as was expected, defeated the German 2½-1½, while BAS played draw with Donbass, so the team from Zemun took the lead which remained to the very end of the tournament. The Yugoslav champion, besides excellent playing, had the advantage because of the convenient order, because it had already played with the most powerful rival, so Nova Gorica in the last but one, and Alisa in the last round could not make a surprise. In both matches Agroniverzal left over one point to their rivals.

The success of Agrouniverzal is completely deserved. Our champion gained five victories in seven matches, while in two duels there was no the winner. The players of our champion achieved 13 victories in 28 matches, made draw in 12, and lost only two matches.The captain of Agrouniverzal, Adrian Mikhalchishin in all seven matches expressed confidence in his first team: Alisa Marić, Alisa Galliamova, Svetlana Prudnikova and Irina Cheluskina. The reserves were Violeta Todorović and Sava Stoisavljević.

At all the boards almost uniform results were achieved: at the first board Alisa Marić 3½ out of 7 games. At the second Alisa Galliamova 5½ out of 7. At the third Svetlana Prudnikova, also 5½ out of 7 and at the fourth Irina Cheluskina 4½ out of 7 games.

Like every tournament, this tournament also had its heroes, the most successful players at the boards. It is interesting that at first three boards Ekatarina Kovalevska (Petrograd), Alisa Galliamova (Agrouniverzal) and Svetlana Prudnikova (Agrouniverzal) achieved the same results, 5½ points out of 7 games.At the fourth board the best result was achieved by 18 years old Evgenia Ovod (Petrograd), 6 points out of 7 games. At the same time Ovod, besides Jordanka Mičić (Turm) and Ana Zozul (Donbas) achieved grand master result.

Moreover, the tournament was held in an unusual room, in the concert hall of Ulrich's church in Halle. Besides, for us Yugoslavs, who are used to the great visit at the chess tournaments, it was unexpected sight, that during the round of matches of the best European teams only some 10 people were watching, who were, as we had the impression, just casual passers-by.

Despite all of that, the general judgement is that the organization of the tournament was good. There is a possibility for Belgrade to be the host of the final tournament next year. That is to say, that during the final ceremony, in an informal conversation, it was suggested to Jovica Milosević, director of Agrouniverzal by the president of the Commission for European Club Cup, Werner Stubenwoll.

/ Written by Miroslav Nešić /