Me at worst

     It's been a tradition to post only my best games on the blog. I have decided that it should change- I also have terrible, very disappointing games.
     My game from the last round (13th) of the last year's World Junior Championship is on the top of "the black list". I had a good tournament- playing against all the favorites and sometimes even leading the tournament. If I would win in the last round against a lower rated opponent, I would have shared the 1-4 place, taking the 3rd one based on the additional criteria.
     I think that I felt too close to this medal. I knew I was a better player than my opponent at that moment and it made me be too optimistic about my position during the game...
     This is the game from which I've learned a lot and I still watch it from time to time in order to remember my mistakes and not to repeat them.

Synapses

     "Thought generally refers to any mental or intellectual activity involving an individual's subjective conciousness. It can refer either to the act of thinking or the resulting ideas or arangements of ideas. Thinking  allows beings to make sense of or model the World in different ways, and to represent or interpret it in ways that are significant to them, or which accord with their needs, attachments, objectives, plans, commitments, ends and desires."
     Wikipedia has covered it, huh?
      I've been asking myself why one makes one conclusion and another one makes a different one as a result of the same action. The answer is a very logical one- because each of us has his own way of viewing things.
     Let's take a simple example- a cat trying to catch a little bird. One feels sorry for the bird, another one is attracted by the process of haunting, the third one is amazed by the graceful moves of the cat, the fourth one feels the need to save the bird and so on... One simple action can fetch a scope of different feelings from one  person to another one.
     It is so nice when you share the angle from which you see the World with someone! Do you know the feeling when you see something and it triggers some unusual reaction and the one next to you says he feels the same in the second when you open your mouth in order to tell it? In these moments you feel like you're not alone in the World.

   
     What about the situation when you think about something and it makes you realize things that you didn't want to realize. You damn the moment when you started to think of the matter involved.
     The way each of us thinks is one of the most personal belongings of ours and no matter how much one wants to change someone's way of thinking, you can't influence the synapses of anyone's mind, well, only if you've got some spare Watts in your hands to use.

Elite

     The Dilijan FIDE Women Grand Prix is being fought these days. It gathered some of the strongest female chess players at the moment.
     Humpy Koneru is leading the tournament with 4,5p/6.

GM Humpy Koneru (2597)

     Anna Muzychuk and Nana Dzagnidze are following with 4p/6.

GM Anna Muzychuk (2593)

GM Nana Dzagnidze (2550)

     The Mongolian Batchimeg Tuvshintugs (2316)- the lowest seed- surprises with being on the 4th place, with 3,5p/6.

WGM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs (2316)

     The Women's World Champion- Anna Ushenina is only on 50%- 3p/6, not being able to score any wins so far.

GM Anna Ushenina (2499)

     You can see the full ranking list after the 6th round here:

FIDE Women's Grand Prix Dilijan-2013
Rank after round 6
Rank	SNo.		Name	Rtg	FED	W	n	We	W-We	K	Rtg+/-	Ra	Rp
1	10	GM	Koneru Humpy	2597	IND	4.5	6	3.64	0.86	10	9	2519	2712
2	8	GM	Muzychuk Anna	2593	SLO	4.0	6	3.50	0.50	10	5	2533	2658
3	11	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2550	GEO	4.0	6	3.60	0.40	10	4	2473	2598
4	2	WGM	Batchimeg Tuvshintugs	2316	MGL	3.5	6	1.62	1.88	15	28	2494	2551
5	5	GM	Ushenina Anna	2499	UKR	3.0	6	2.96	0.04	10	0	2504	2504
6	3	GM	Harika Dronavalli	2492	IND	3.0	6	3.08	-0.08	10	-1	2481	2481
7	1	WGM	Girya Olga	2436	RUS	3.0	6	2.72	0.28	10	3	2470	2470
8	6	GM	Kosintseva Tatiana	2526	RUS	2.5	6	2.88	-0.38	10	-4	2540	2483
9	9	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2531	BUL	2.5	6	3.07	-0.57	10	-6	2523	2466
10	12	GM	Cmilyte Viktorija	2511	LTU	2.5	6	3.21	-0.71	10	-7	2483	2426
11	7	IM	Khotenashvili Bela	2531	GEO	2.0	6	2.83	-0.83	10	-8	2551	2426
12	4	GM	Danielian Elina	2475	ARM	1.5	6	2.89	-1.39	10	-14	2487	2294

     You can follow the live games on the official site of the event: http://dilijan2013.fide.com/en/component/content/article/40-static-content/133-live-games

     I wonder how many mistakes can be made even on a supposed very high level. 

     The central match of yesterday's round- Koneru-Muzychuk ended with a unexplainable blunder made by Anna in a drawn endgame:

Black to move

     Anna played 40...f6?? here and after 41. b5-a5 42. Ne2 a few more moves were made and Anna had to resign. 40...b5 instead would have been more than enough for a draw: 41.Kd3-Kd5.

     One of my main goals is to get the chance of playing in this kind of events. I think that I could show a decent result even now. It isn't easy at all to get to play there- one should either have a 2500+ rating, or be Women's World Champion, or have their country as an organizer of one of the tournaments from the series.

     I hope that one of these conditions will be full-filled one day- preferably one of the first 2 ones, or maybe both of them?! ;)

Grand Sweden

     Hello my dear readers!
     I've been relaxing the last few days, not even opening my computer. It's been soooo good to go to the beach and not worry about anything but my tan :D
     My session at the University was so exhausting- I needed some refuel and I definitely got it.
     I spent some quality time with my family and my friends in Golden Sands and I enjoyed the unusual role of being just a spectator of the "Golden Sands Grand Europe Open".

With my dear sister- Elena

With my good friend- Diana Baciu

Elena and me

Olga Hincu, Diana Baciu, Irene Sukandar, Elena Bulmaga, Ioana Gelip and me (from left to right)  trying the chilly water

     Nils Grandelius of Sweden won the tournament with a 7,5p/9, 2706 performance and a very nice +17,5 Elo points! If he couldn't take the Bulgarian hot weather with him in Sweden- he definitely compensated it with some nice amount of cash- 6000 euros! How much sun can he buy with it, what do you think?

     Here's my photo report from there:

Nils Grandelius- the winner of the tournament

Dragan Solak-6th place with 6,5p

Vladislav Nevednichy- 3rd place with 7p

Mircea Parligras

Alin Berescu

Dmitrii Svetushkin

Natalia Pogonina-2nd woman prize with 5,5p

Axel Rombaldoni

Tiberiu Georgescu

Nisha Mohota

Bogdan Posedaru

Irina Ionescu

Irene Sukandar

Angela Dragomirescu

Maria Velcheva

Zura Javakhadze

Levente Vajda

Zbynek Hracek- 2nd place with 7p

     The playing hall was really impressive- it was provided by one of the best 5 stars hotel and casino in Golden Sands. The organizers did a very good job and I think that it was one of the strongest and with the highest prizes Open that one could find in June in Europe!

     

     As about me, I really enjoyed my short holliday and I'm going to prepare for my next tournaments in the following week- Turkish League, Universiade, EIWCC... I hope to have a great summer and to show some serious results!

Wish you all an amazing summer! 

Will keep you posted ;)

Tango

     What is better- to be lonely or to fill it up?
     Oh, twenties- such a foolish time! That's what our mothers and elder  friends say. How well do you know the phrase "Oh, I've been through this- it's such a non-sense- you'll get over it."?
     I always think about my future and I don't really see a scenario that I would like. It doesn't really matter, does it?! I'll have time to rethink about all of these in my thirties- actually I'm not even in my twenties yet- 5 months to go.
     I am just curious when have dreaming and just living the moment started not to be enough. What a 19 y.o can possibly want more? "You tell me." you'd say. Well, I can't, because my dreams have started to turn into nightmares and my enjoying the moment has turned into worrying what's next. What is it about? I don't know- maybe it's just life. You know- this thing called life. We never thought that it could be the way it is and maybe we wanted it to be different.

     We all want to tango through our lives with a bright destiny gently touching our waist, don't we? It turns out that not only bright destinies can tango or sometimes a step might not be worth learning. How many steps of a tango have you learned? None? You're a lucky man then.
     I wish I could waltz through my whole life- knowing just 4 steps- birth, success, love and death.

26 Countries

     I've found an interesting application that counts the countries one's been to. I've discovered that I've visited 26 countries so far... Still not that much,but I plan to visit at least one new country per year :D


visited 26 states (11.5%)
Create your own visited map of The World or another interesting project

You can try to guess where was each of these photos taken :D

Nr.1

Nr.2

Nr.3

Nr.4

Nr.5

Nr.6

Nr.7

Nr.8

Nr.9

Nr.10

Good luck :P

Grin

     My first exam was on the 30th of May and I can say that it's been the most uneventful and in the same time the most uneasy two weeks in my life.
     Studying, studying, exam, studying, following the games of my friends in tournaments all over the World, then again, studying, exams. I have never felt so "not in my bowl" before... To understand why, I'll tell you a short story:
     I had to present my practice in accounting dossier some days ago. I gathered all the documents that I needed, thought of  how I would present all of them and I went to the University. When I entered the professor's office, I saw a man in his 50s, wearing a very crumpled T-shirt. He grinned to me and asked for my ID. I gave him the ID and my dossier. He opened it and gave it a flick-through. He asked some commun questions, after what he said " The invoices should have been hand-written, I can't accept the dossier". I was a bit taken by surprise, as I didn't remember for it to be metioned in the list of the required documents. I looked for it in my purse, then I showed it to the professor- showing him that there was no such mention and I couldn't have known. " Now you know, Irinuca. Goodbye", he told with a satisfied grin. WTF? I felt like he was mocking me. What was my fault? As one can understand, it is quite simple to copy some documents, in order to have them hand-written. What was the professor's problem then? Couldn't he just tell me nicely to come again with the invoices hand-written?
     This kind of people make me sick. They are so frustrated that they get pleasure from mocking others. If such kind of a man can get a professor at one of the best universities in the country, this system really has a problem.
     Well, mainly- this is the reason why I can't wait for these last 4 days of my session to pass faster. I am sick and tired of  all of these.
     I think of  my next tournaments, I imagine myself winning a game and I try not to spend my nerves on frustrated people.
   

Golden Sands

     The "Albena Grand Europe Open" came to an end yesterday, with Tigran Petrosian winning the trophy, with an impressing 8p/9 score! Mircea Parligras finished on the 2nd place and Hrant Melkumyan on 3rd. Here are the final standings: http://chess-results.com/tnr103459.aspx?art=1&lan=11&flag=30&wi=821

1		GM	Petrosian Tigran L.			ARM	2649	0	8.0	40.5	49.5	7
2		GM	Parligras Mircea-Emilian			ROU	2565	0	7.0	41.0	53.5	5
3		GM	Melkumyan Hrant			ARM	2635	0	7.0	40.5	52.5	5
4		GM	Nabaty Tamir			ISR	2579	0	7.0	36.5	46.5	6
5		IM	Bernadskiy Vitaliy			UKR	2475	0	7.0	36.0	46.5	6
6		GM	Nevednichy Vladislav			ROU	2580	0	6.5	44.0	55.5	5
7		GM	Spasov Vasil			BUL	2565	0	6.5	40.5	52.5	5
8		GM	Mareco Sandro			ARG	2557	0	6.5	40.0	52.5	5
9		GM	Vajda Levente			ROU	2617	0	6.5	40.0	51.5	5
10		GM	Mekhitarian Krikor Sevag			BRA	2544	0	6.5	38.0	49.0	5
11		GM	Lupulescu Constantin			ROU	2655	0	6.5	35.5	46.5	6
12		GM	Solak Dragan			TUR	2598	0	6.5	35.0	44.0	5

    The "Golden Sands Grand Europe Open" starts today. The list of players is even more impressing than in Albena! You can check it here: http://chess-results.com/tnr103659.aspx?lan=11&zeilen=99999

     My sister- Elena Bulmaga will also play there and I will try to help her to obtain a good result!  

     Here are some photos of  Golden Sands:

   As about me, I have only 4 exams left this week and then I'll be free like a bird! I will be able to finally start focusing on chess again. I miss playing so much!

xoxo from Iasi ;)

Grand Europe Open Albena

     This week has been a very busy one- with a lot of exams and pretty much worrying. I didn't have much time neither for chess nor for posting. I am really happy that I've survived until the weekend! :)))
     So, let's go directly to news ;)
     I've got my ticket for the Turkish League, which will start on the 1st of July. It's going to be my next tournament. Despite all the unstable situation in Istanbul, it seems that chess isn't affected. I haven't played for like 2 weeks and it already feels like an eternity! Can't wait for the 1st July to come quicker!
     The "Grand Europe Open- Albena" is coming to an end. The 8th round will be disputed today. There are 3 players with 6p/7 leading: Vladislav Nevednichy, Hrant Melkumyan and Tigran Petrosian and another 6 players with 5,5p/7 :  Boris Chatalbashev, Krikor Mekhitarian, Levente Vajda, Mircea Parligras, Evgeny Sveshnikov and Vitaliy Bernadskiy.
     You can see the pairings for today's 8th round here:

1	8	GM	Nevednichy Vladislav	2580	6		6	GM	Melkumyan Hrant	2635	3
2	2	GM	Petrosian Tigran L.	2649	6		5½	GM	Chatalbashev Boris	2560	13
3	15	GM	Mekhitarian Krikor Sevag	2544	5½		5½	GM	Vajda Levente	2617	4
4	10	GM	Parligras Mircea-Emilian	2565	5½		5½	GM	Sveshnikov Evgeny	2512	17
5	5	GM	Grigoryan Avetik	2605	5		5½	IM	Bernadskiy Vitaliy	2475	23
6	25	IM	Ashwin Jayaram	2472	5		5	GM	Solak Dragan	2598	7
7	33	IM	Javakhadze Zurab	2450	5		5	GM	Nabaty Tamir	2579	9
8	45	FM	Anurag Mhamal	2401	5		5	GM	Spasov Vasil	2565	12
9	57	WGM	Sukandar Irine Kharisma	2364	5		5	GM	Mareco Sandro	2557	14
10	24	IM	Enchev Ivajlo	2473	5		5	IM	Erturan Yakup	2374	55
11	39	IM	Molina Roberto Junio Brito	2423	4½		4½	GM	Lupulescu Constantin	2655	1

     My friend (and room-mate in Thailand)- Irene Sukandar is having a very good tournament, with a 2486 performance and a +23 Elo points.

     Another "long not seen" friend- Diana Baciu, who hasn't played for almost a year has a 2457 Performance and a +26 Elo points!

     It is an interesting phenomenon- it's not the first time when I notice a player who hasn't played for a very long time and he makes incredible performances when he starts to play again. I wonder what is it about? Maybe I should take a year break from chess in order to become a 2500+ GM?! :D

     Another player who surprises with his very good recent results is Vladislav Nevednichy, who's leading the tournament with a 2757 Performance and a +14 Elo points.

     "The Wolf" is having not such a good tournament, with only 4,5 points, being the 1st rating favourite. I guess that the European's Individual has been a too tough event that needed a longer recovery.

     Here are some photos I've found on the facebook page of the Bulgarian Federation:

The Trophy waiting for it's winner

     I wish everyone the best of luck and may the strongest win!