50th final of the Italian team championship, Master division
Starting as number 5 seed, we suffered an uncertain start in which we lost 2.5 to 1.5 to the "Don Pietro Carrera Catania" club due to end-of-game reversals that would have made even our politicians turn pale.
In the second, third and fourth rounds the situation did not improve. After a series of lacklustre games from the lower boards, the top boards piled it on, adding sensational errors such as a queen left en prise by a grandmaster, an event that nobody would believe if you told it around, and
comic episodes such as not realising one had won on time and therefore forcing the win, managing to lose a drawn game that would have been enough to win the match.
Everything pointed to a painful relegation for us, given that the reform of the Master division introduced this year provides for the relegation of the bottom 6 teams. From next year, in fact, 16 teams instead of 18 will compete for the title and 9 rounds will be played instead of 7.
On the penultimate day, with the double round, our GMs came to their senses and we managed to bring home 2 important wins that lulled us into the illusion of fourth place in the event of a win. The last match ended in a draw, dashing the dream of watching the podium up close but managing to save ourselves from relegation.
After this performance, perhaps the worst of recent years, we are already ready for next year's transfer campaign, with the aim of being there again and more combative than ever to carry the colours of Modena high.
Thanks to WorldTradingLab, without which none of this would have been possible, and to our technical director Gabriele Franchini for the passion that for years, despite family and work commitments, has led him to embark on this great lucid madness called Master.