The stability regained in Sara Khadem's life translates into brilliant results. A year after taking refuge in the south of Spain – the Government nationalized her through the quickest route in July – the chess player, born in Iran 26 years ago, has achieved two successes in one month: she rose to 13th place on the world list in the classic modality after his good play in the very demanding Llobregat Open; and this Friday she won the silver medal at the European Lightning in Monte Carlo (Monaco).
Psychological strength was the key to the medal, judging by what Khadem told EL PAÍS by phone: “The first half of the tournament was very bad for me [cuatro victorias y tres derrotas]. I calculated that I needed ten points out of thirteen to get on the podium, which required me to win the last six. “So I decided to play with maximum concentration and give my best.” It certainly didand culminated that triumphant streak with a victory in the last round over the champion, the Swiss Alexandra Kosteniuk, who was world champion in the classical modality when she was Russian.
Khadem has quickly adapted to his new life on the Andalusian coast (he keeps his exact location a secret for security reasons), which he already knew because he had participated in the Gibraltar Open several times. Her husband, filmmaker Ardeshir Ahmadi, has put aside her profession to help Khadem so that she can dedicate the necessary time to her training while someone else cares for their almost two-year-old son, Sam.
Khadem had already suffered reprisals in Iran for her political positions in opposition to the Government, which slowed her rise to the elite, quickly from when she was a child prodigy until she came of age. But refusing to play with a veil in the World Rapid and Blitz Championships in Almaty (Kazakhstan), when his country was in great turmoil after the death of the young Mahsa Amini after being tortured by the police, crossed all the red lines — the Government issued an order search and capture against her—and forced her to immediately emigrate to Spain without returning to Iran. President Pedro Sánchez received her a few days later at La Moncloa, which greatly accelerated the procedures for her nationalization.
In October, when she was proclaimed Spanish women's champion, she finally convinced herself that she could set high goals: “My life is already quite settled in Spain, although it is true that visits from my Iranian family take up my time, but that is something very pleasant. “I have set my sights on entering the top ten in the world, and for that I am training seriously.”
105 chess players from 24 countries have played in Monte Carlo; among them, twelve Spanish. Marta García fought for the medals, but she lost in the last two rounds against the champion Kosteniuk and the Georgian Bella Jotenashvili, bronze medalist, which took her to 8th place.
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