Euphoria in Lloret: Runners-up in Preferente and heading to the play-off!
A spectacular final round for Club Escacs Lloret who, against all odds, realized the dream of becoming runners-up in the Preferente category and, with it, earned the right to compete in the promotion play-offs to the Catalan Second Division, which will be held during April.
The first team approached this last round with their homework done, albeit with some absences, and with the objective of securing a victory against Hostalric that would allow them to maintain hope of reaching second place, always dependent on a favorable result in Sant Gregori.
The match began with maximum equality, reflected in the draws by Carles Jordà and JJ Mateo on the first two boards. Then, on the board where the Elo difference was most unfavorable, Albert Robert achieved valuable draws that boosted the team's morale. Shortly after, our star signing in this final stretch of the season, Erik Juez, added a victory.
The match began to tilt in our favor thanks to Lev Shustov's triumph, who managed to win from an inferior position, and two more draws, signed by Albert Olivas and Toni David, which put the score at 4.5–2.5 with very positive prospects. Finally, Georgi Stoykov sealed the victory with a solid game, while Sergii Shchurenko closed the score with a draw: 6-4, mission accomplished.
All that remained was to wait for a miracle... and it arrived on the way to the traditional end-of-league meal at Can Sabata. Sant Gregori achieved a 5-5 draw against Platja d'Aro B, a result that awarded Lloret the runner-up position in Preferente. Overwhelming joy at the club.
Meanwhile, team B traveled to L'Escala with the intention of securing fifth place in the Third Provincial. With a regular lineup consisting of four young promising players from the academy —Bastian, Sara, Olga, and Arnau—, they faced opponents who outranked them by more than 200 Elo points per board. The result could not have been more resounding: 0-4 for the Lloret players. Simply spectacular.
We don't know how far the club will go this season, but it's clear that these results are not a matter of chance, but rather of constant work and a project with a promising future.
Thus concludes the regular season with a historic season for Club Escacs Lloret. Now, the younger players are preparing for the Catalonia Age-Group Championship, which will be held in Lloret from March 28 to April 2, while the first team awaits to learn their opponent in the promotion play-off draw.
We have earned the right to dream.