All About Alla - Day 2

UTRECHT - After today's last session, Alla Danilevskaya from Saint Petersburg looks much better than she did yesterday. What a difference a night makes!

Alla Danilevskaya laughs a bit coquettishly as she tells me that she went out yesterday night at Utrecht.

You had promised to go to bed early and sleep well because you were so tired.

“Yes. But we wanted to go out. It was lovely in the city. I have never been in a town like this  one before.”

What do you mean?

“The city. The canals. The little restaurants on the wharfs, next to the water. It’s… like Venice.”

Four rounds of two hours was a bit too much for you yesterday.

“No. Not too much. But I had not slept well the night before. That’s why I was so tired.”

How did you play today?

Not bad and not good, says Alla. She shows me her results: session 5: 4 table points, +110; session 6: 2 table points, -29, session 7, 2 table points, +23.

“The first session I won in the last three minutes. I was second, Alexander [Doppelhofer] was number one. Then he discarded a tile which I could go out on.

“In the final session, it was the other way around. Then I was in the lead. I was thinking very well, not discarding carelessly like I did yesterday in the last game. But then Jeanine [Scholtemeyer] grabbed my discard, so I became second.”

Did you make any special hands today?

Alla shakes her head. “No. I tried for the Thirteen Orphans one time. But in the end, I had just eleven.”

Still, not bad, 17 points. You are now on position number 36. What do you hope for?

“I will not tell.”

Top-twenty?

“That would be my dream.”