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! :)