“IT`S JUST A GAME”

The third Cup of Nations was held in Baku this year. This is, basically, a world championship in the "What? When? Where?" game played between national teams. Last year the Azerbaijani team came third. This time, unfortunately, we didn't make the top three. Renowned Azerbaijani intellect Rovsan Asgarov talks about the reasons for this and the state of intellectual games in Azerbaijan.

- Last year our team came third. And our chances of reaching the top three weren't bad this year, either. This time we thought we had one serious rival fewer, because this year one of the favourites, Ukraine, winners of the first Cup of Nations in 2005, entered a weakened team for a variety of reasons. Russia and Israel were also serious contenders for the cup. There was of course the chance of an upset, though not a major one. But it's a funny old game and you can expect one thing and end up with something completely different. The first surprise was that one Azerbaijani team was drawn against the other in the quarter-finals. Luck also plays a part. We lost to Turkmenistan, for example. If we hadn't, then I'm sure we would have been amongst the medals.

- Maybe it's because you didn't consider the Turkmenistan team to be serious opponents from the start?

- That's not it. On the whole we played as usual, not against our opponents, but against the questions. And we lost 5:6, that is, the Turkmens answered just one more question than us. At one point, we weren't collected enough, at another it was nerves, and another we just didn't remember quickly enough. I should say that the Cup of Nations has a good system, as any team has a chance of winning. The Turkmens made the most of their chance and we didn't. Then they lost 2:6 to Germany in the semi-final. It seems that the emotion of the game against us was too much and they just ran out of steam against Germany, who were entirely beatable. Under the Cup of Nations system you have to approach every game as though it were the last battle - that's very important. Of course, we could say that if we had been given more chances, we would have beaten Turkmenistan 10:8. But we ought to have won that battle.

- The moment of success is important, of course, but if the teams have roughly the same potential, then its role is diminished almost to nothing. Don't you think so?

- Why? In this instance someone will make one mistake fewer. Remember the famous story of how the Duke of Marlborough defeated one of his enemies during the war of Spanish succession? The loser then showered the victor with compliments, but the duke brushed off these fine words, saying something like: "It's not worth it - I made 100 mistakes in this battle. The problem is that you made 101." We made one more mistake than our opponents in the battle against the Turkmens. This is a game: you win today and lose tomorrow. That's OK.

- There is always a chance in the big games to watch other people and to show what you can do. How well did Azerbaijan show what they could do - I am not talking about the result now but the overall development of the intellectual movement?

- Azerbaijan, and especially its young people, has huge intellectual potential. That's not just my opinion. For example, Natalya Ivanovna Stetsenko, the head of the Igra (Game) TV company, said that she really envies Azerbaijan its young people. She knows our team very well but has only just had the chance to look at our second team, captained by Yelena Zakharova, during this Cup of Nations. And she really liked this young, daring, mischievous team. Stetsenko said that she might invite them to qualifiers in the "What? When? Where?" TV club. Of course, the development of intellectual games in Azerbaijan would not have been possible without the support of the government and President Ilham Aliyev. It's a really big event to hold the Cup of Nations three years in a row. And if you add the world championships that we hosted, then that makes six years, from 2002 to 2007. 

Such high-level tournaments are a responsible affair and show the development of the brain game movement in the country and the state's concern for it. Yes, it's possible to copy the standard procedure for the tournament. But it won't be any good without the necessary conditions and material support from the state. I should say that nowhere else are there such high-level tournaments as those in Baku! This is thanks to the country's leadership and President Ilham Aliyev, who always takes a personal interest in our progress and supports us.

The Azerbaijani team is the only one to have played at full strength in the "What? When? Where?" elite club and the only team to have the title of "What? When? Where?" absolute world champions. The development of the Azerbaijani teams is very pleasing. Suffice it say that we beat our second team in a fiercely fought match, with extra questions and replays, as a result of which the Azerbaijani teams were called "question eaters". While we were competing, we destroyed twice as many questions as all the other teams put together! This shows you the level. Either of our two teams could have won a medal at the tournament and competed against Russia for the Cup of Nations. But we were just a little less lucky than the others. It's a funny old game.