Merry Christmas!

     I would like to wish all my friends and readers a wonderful Christmas! Let today's magic make you a little bit kinder and a little bit happier!
     I have always associated Christmas with a big family dinner and lots of snow outside. Unfortunately, it's not what it will be about this year. As my beloved sister is playing in Al-Ain now and there's absolutely no clue of snow outside, I guess that this year Christmas will not be really Christmas for me.
     I haven't written in a while, as I am home and I felt I needed some peace.
     There are no tournaments in the near future for me, I'll be inactive until the middle of February, or maybe even until March, not sure yet. I'm taking some time for myself until then :)
     Anyways, I wish you all have a nice day with your friends and family!




P.S. Good luck sis'! I really miss you! Hope you'll have a nice 30 ºC degrees Christmas in Emirates :D

In the spirit of 30 ºC :D

xoxo from Chisinau!

Trigger

     Here I am back in Iasi.
     It's a bit strange- after these days I spent in London, being back to my routine. I somehow got used to seeing all those nice buildings, streets, parks. I liked walking my way to the playing hall and having all the stars of the Chess World playing some meters away from me. I saw a different World, I mean, I always knew it existed, but being a part of it for some time made me realize that, indeed, there are things that you may never have.

     I had a terrible tournament, but London has been an experience that changed me somehow- I think that it triggered something and I have the feeling that changes are to follow.
     We always say "I want this...", "I'd like that...", but it's not always we take action in these directions. Well, I think it's the time for me to do something and make all I want happen.

Thank you, London- you're indeed a great city!

xoxo from Iasi :)

And the rain came

     After a few sunny days in London, the rainy days are back, bringing clouds not only on the sky but also in my tournament situation.
     I am on a disappointing "-1" after 7 games, and with only 3 more rounds to go.The tournament did go definetely not as planned. Well, but what to do? The life goes on and I guess that it's not the last tournament when such unfortunate "moves" happen...
     I still have a few more days in London and I hope to take the best out of them.
     The positive thing is that I passed all the partial exams for my University so far, one more to go the day after tomorrow- the last one.

Wish you all a sunny weekend- if not outdoors- at least in your hearts!

xoxo from London!

Squirrels attacking

     Half of the tournament has already passed in no time...

     We had a double round yesterday, in which I scored just 1p, losing the morning round. I am on 50 % now- a modest result which I hope to improve in the second part of the tournament.

      Here you can follow the results: http://www.londonchessclassic.com/womens_invitational_2013.htm

Rank	Name	Flags	Score	Fed.	M/F	Rating	TPR	W-We	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
1	IM Ciuksyte, Dagne		4.0	ENG	F	2345	2481	+0.83	1	½	1	1	½
2	IM Bulmaga, Irina		2.5	ROU	F	2396	2230	-1.05	0	½	1	0	1
3	WIM Foisor, Mihaela-Veronica		2.5	ROU	F	2216	2344	+0.67	1	1	0		½
4	WGM Nadig, Kruttika		2.5	IND	F	2127	2284	+1.00	0	½	½	1	½
5	WIM Fuchs, Judith		2.0	GER	F	2337	2249	-0.45	1	½	½		0
6	WFM Hegarty, Sarah N		0.5	ENG	F	2127	1918	-1.00	0	0	0	0	½

     Unfortunately, there's no life broadcast of the games, but it's possible to download them in ".pgn" format from the home page of the tournament.

     There's a lot of interesting stuff going on at the London Chess Classic Festival. 

     A rapid super tournament starts today, where stars like Vladimir Kramnik, Hikaru Nakamura, Vishy Anand, Boris Gelfand, Fabiano Caruana, Judit Polgar, Nigel Short and others will play. The interesting thing about it is that the first 2 players leading the Open tournament after 4 rounds have qualified to this star tourn as well; they are Andrei Istratescu and Emil Sutovsky.

Wednesday 11th December
Round 1
14:00	Group A	Luke McShane	-	Vishy Anand	Andrei Istratescu	-	Michael Adams
	Group B	Vladimir Kramnik	-	Peter Svidler	Jonathan Rowson	-	Matthew Sadler
15:30	Group C	Boris Gelfand	-	Judit Polgar	Gawain Jones	-	Hikaru Nakamura
	Group D	Nigel Short	-	David Howell	Fabiano Caruana	-	Emil Sutovsky
Round 2
18:00	Group A	Vishy Anand	-	Michael Adams	Luke McShane	-	Andrei Istratescu
	Group B	Peter Svidler	-	Matthew Sadler	Vladimir Kramnik	-	Jonathan Rowson
19:30	Group C	Judit Polgar	-	Hikaru Nakamura	Boris Gelfand	-	Gawain Jones
	Group D	David Howell	-	Emil Sutovsky	Nigel Short	-	Fabiano Caruana

Andrei Istratescu, qualified to the Top 16 tournament thanks to scoring 4p/4 in the Open section

Rank	Name	Flags	Score	Fed.	M/F	Rating	TPR	W-We	1	2	3	4
1	GM Istratescu, Andrei		4.0	FRA	M	2670	3123	+0.69	1	1	1	1
2	GM Sutovsky, Emil		4.0	ISR	M	2657	3101	+0.64	1	1	1	1
3	GM Grachev, Boris		3.5	RUS	M	2669	2666	-0.01	1	1	½	1
4	GM Iordachescu, Viorel		3.5	MDA	M	2614	2681	+0.24	1	1	½	1
5	GM Hammer, Jon Ludvig		3.5	NOR	M	2612	2665	+0.18	1	1	1	½
6	GM Brunello, Sabino		3.5	ITA	M	2603	2651	+0.17	1	1	½	1
7	IM Bok, Benjamin		3.5	NED	M	2540	2614	+0.27	1	1	1	½
8	IM Semcesen, Daniel		3.5	SWE	M	2488	2578	+0.34	1	1	½	1
9	IM Cox, John J		3.5	ENG	M	2382	2968	+1.03	1	1	1	=
10	IM Slavin, Alexey		3.5	RUS	M	2363	2650	+1.35	1	1	1	½

     I wish Andrei success and let's hope for some amazing chess! You can follow the games and the live stream here: http://www.londonchessclassic.com/index.htm

    As about me, I am having some quality time in London and yesterday I finally managed to play a good game. You can see it here:

    Here are some photos taken from the last couple of days:

Squirrels attacking people :)))

The mighty pelicans

The beautiful "Hyde Park"

     Keep tuned for updates!

xoxo from London! ;)

London!

     And here I am- in London!
     It is amazing to be here- it feels like I'm in center of the World ;) London has been very nice to me so far- already for 2 days here and no rain at all :))) - lucky me :P
     The tournament is organized on a very high level and there is nothing to complain about (well, except my yesterday's blunders). I hope to have something better to write about regarding my chess next days. Until then- here are some photos from my today's walk to the Hammersmith Bridge:

xoxo from London ;)
   
 

All I want for December

     The last month of the calendar has started with... the Rapid, Blitz and Solving Women National Championship, which took place in Iasi. I took all the collection of medals: a gold, a silver and a bronze ( 1st at solving, 2nd at rapid and 3rd at blitz).
     It was a really nice weekend, which I spent playing chess and hanging out with friends in the meantime.

Roxana Anton, Ioana Gelip, Raluca Sgircea and me (from right to left)

With a good friend- Roxana Anton

At the solving championship

With Raluca Sgircea :)

The diet died in that weekend for an undefined time :P

With Raluca Sgircea and Roxana Anton

Almost happy ;)

     I will leave for London tomorrow and the tournament will start the day after tomorrow, with me playing vs Veronica Foisor- another friend :) It is funny how no matter in which corner of the World you go- a friend is always to be found there :P

     You can find the details of the tournament as well as the news about it on the official site of the event: http://www.londonchessclassic.com/womens_invitational_2013.htm It will be a double round-robin, which means that all play against all with both colours. Here is the list of players:

1. IM Irina Bulmaga- 2396

2. IM Dagne Ciuksyte- 2345

3. WIM Judith Fuchs- 2337

4. WIM Veronica Foisor- 2216

5. WFM Sarah Hegarty- 2127

6. WGM Kruttika Nadig- 2127

     I hope to enjoy the tournament and London!

     Meanwhile, I will have to pass another partial exam for my University, tomorrow, from the airport :D So, I guess- back to studying!

Keep tuned for news and impressions from London! :)

The Great Magnus

     This article is dedicated to one of the greatest chess players of all the times- the nr.1 chess player in the World and the 16th World Chess Champion- Magnus Carlsen.

     I can't stop being amazed by Magnus- the opener of a new era in chess!
     He makes it all look possible- living a full life, enjoying it and being the best.

     Winning the match against Anand, Magnus has not proved anything that needed to be proved. We all respected his chess and admired his simple way of pulling the best out of any situation. I think that his chess clearly shows the primordial "surviving" skill of our averted ancestors. When watching his games, I somehow get the feeling of watching those documentaries about the primary human beings who strived to get to live a new day and who step by step evolved onto being a complex civilization.

     Saying that Magnus inspires is too little- he makes us rethink all we know about chess and, for me, about life approach too.
     I am grateful to have witnessed the phenomenon of Magnus Carlsen.

     Our generation might have a chance afterall, huh?
   

November Blitz

     Another month is ending and it's almost the end of the year...
     I have some 5 free days until the Romanian Rapid, Blitz and Solving Chess Championship which I will surely enjoy, as I've managed to pass my partial exams at University :) Then, London comes :D

     I think that it will be a vey nice tournament- I play in an WGM round-robin. I will be the 1st Elo ranked player, though it will be surely not that easy. I can't wait to wander on the London's streets making lots of photos!
     I've been in London earlier this year, but just for some 11 hours (I had a very bad flight connection while flying to Bangkok) in which I managed to see only the London Eye and the Big Ben...
     What else? My life isn't very full of activities while in Chisinau- it's more about solving not chess related problems and gaining forces for the next tournaments.
     I am going to watch "The Hunger Games-2" today- hope it will be at least not worse than the 1st one :))))

Have a nice week!

xoxo from Chisinau! ;)
   

Happy Dance

     These days since I've got home should have been "Heaven on Earth" and instead I've caught a cold and in the same time I have to study for exams day by day with my cold making a "happy dance" every time I don't understand something. Econometrics can be really tricky when you don't recall anything from the last year's course of Statistics... Well, I hope that I'll get through with it until tomorrow, when I have to submit the paper.
      I still haven't written anything on the Anand-Carlsen match. It is not as spectacular as I expected it to be. Carlsen has a clear edge and a +2 already, I don't see how anything can change- I guess that we'll have a new World Champion in some days.
     That's all for now... I'll return to my battle with my cold and with my one and true love "Econometrics" :))))
     Wish you all a healthy and nice end of week!

xoxo from Chisinau ;)

Back to life

     I am back in Chisinau. I arrived yesterday, at about 4pm and slept until today :))) Yeah, the tournament was really exhausting for me.
     We finished on the 12th place, while being 10th in the starting list. The result is far from being called a success, but if to think that with one more draw (if I would have made a draw) in the last round, we would have taken the 6th place, one could understand how tense was everything until the very last moment.
     I ended the tournament on 50 % (4,5p/9) and some -3 Elo points.
     The best result by far in our team showed Alina l'Ami, who was in a very good form! You can see the statisctics here:

12. Romania (RtgAvg:2358, Captain: Szabo Gergely-Andras-Gyula / TB1: 10 / TB2: 175.5)
Bo.		Name	Rtg	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Pts.	Games	RtgAvg	Rp	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	IM	Bulmaga Irina	2399	ROU	1	0	0	1	½	0	1	1	0	4.5	9	2367	2367	4.5	4.83	-0.33	10	-3.3
2	WGM	L'ami Alina	2361	ROU		½	1	½	1	½	1	1	½	6.0	8	2298	2491	6	4.55	1.45	15	21.8
3	IM	Foisor Cristina-Adela	2347	ROU	1	1	0	½	0		1	1	½	5.0	8	2247	2342	5	4.81	0.19	10	1.9
4	WGM	Cosma Elena-Luminita	2326	ROU	1	½		1	½	1	½		½	5.0	7	2197	2355	5	4.50	0.50	10	5.0
5	WGM	Voicu-Jagodzinsky Carmen	2275	ROU	1		½			0		½		2.0	4	2236	2236	2	2.16	-0.16	15	-2.4

     The tournament was won by the Ukraine's team, followed by the Russian and Polish ones.

Alina l'Ami, 6p/8

Luminita Cosma, 5p/7

Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky, 2p/4

Cristina Foisor, 5p/8

and me with 4,5p/9

     In the men's section, our team showed a great fighting spirit and finished on the 14th place, being 19th on the starting ranking list. Here are the statistics:

14. ROMANIA (RtgAvg:2590, TB1: 10 / TB2: 159.5)
Bo.		Name	Rtg	FED	ID	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Pts.	Games	RtgAvg	Rp	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	GM	LUPULESCU Constantin	2630	ROU	0	1	½	½	1	1	0	½	½	0	5.0	9	2634	2677	5	4.44	0.56	10	5.6
2	GM	JIANU Vlad-Cristian	2565	ROU	0	1	½	0	½		½	0	1	½	4.0	8	2567	2567	4	3.93	0.07	10	0.7
3	GM	PARLIGRAS Mircea-Emilian	2576	ROU	0	1	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	½	5.5	9	2523	2603	5.5	4.97	0.53	10	5.3
4	GM	NEVEDNICHY Vladislav	2590	ROU	0	1	½	1	1	0	½	½	1	1	6.5	9	2514	2680	6.5	5.14	1.36	10	13.6
5	GM	SZABO Gergely-Andras-Gyula	2548	ROU	0					½					0.5	1	2666	0	0.5	0.34	0.16	10	1.6

   
     Their best result in this tournament was the 2-2 with Ukraine! The next round they played against Russia and they were really close to a miracle, with Mircea Parligras and Vladislav Nevednichy pushing for a win. They lost the match eventually, but this didn't get them any lower in our eyes!

Mircea Parligras, 5,5p/9

Vladislav Nevednichy, 6,5p/9

Vlad Jianu, 4p/8

Constantin Lupulescu, 5p/9

and both our Captain and reserve player in the men's team- Gergely Szabo, whom we let to play only 1 game, in which he successfully made a draw vs the Ukraine's -Fedorchuk

     The tournament was won by the Azerbaijan team, followed by the French and Russian ones.
      I will stay home for now and learn for my partial exams at the University and try to pass them :D My next tournament will be the Romanian rapid, blitz and solving Women Championship, which will start at the beginning of December.

xoxo from Chisinau ;)