It's time to melt!

     Here I am- back to the "virtual life"!
     I haven't updated my blog for quite a long time and for no particular reason- not much inspiration left after playing chess daily I guess :))
     Many games and tournaments are behind and I am in Chisinau for a week or two, trying to relax before another month full of chess... It's unbelievable how hot it can be here- it feels like the global warming has become a huge issue- it's just crazy! I am stuck home, sitting under the AC, not tempting the fate by going out at 38 Celsius degrees...
     Anyhow, I have a lot to think about, the European Individual Women's Championship was very eventful. I had a lot of crazy games, wining positions which I lost and vice versa. I finished the tournament on the 20th place, being the 30+ seed, which was quite well, though not good enough to qualify to the World Cup (only 14 places were eligible for that).
     I played another rapid tournament and a classic one afterwards... My rating is getting again closer and closer to 2400, though never close enough :D I have already stopped checking it, though some extra conditions at tournaments have used to be quite a motivation. These Elo points get lost so quickly and never hurry to come back...
     I can't wait for the next chess marathon to begin! I will play in 3 nice Opens in Greece, 2 of them on Crete and another one in Kavala. Greek beaches are by far my favorites! I love drinking frappes under the umbrella and then going for a swim in the fantastically clear blue sea! I guess my skin color might change quite a lot this summer :D

Carpe Diem friends!

I urgently need another ice-cream to survive this day :D


xoxo from Chisinau ;)

Cheating and Ego Matters

     While studying hard for my final exams and having no time to throw away at all, I simply couldn't help myself expressing my deepest disgust about the situation where a few WGM's, ex World and European Champions and strong GMs amongst them, accused my colleague from the National Team- WGM Mihaela Sandu for cheating.

WGM Mihaela Sandu

     We have been colleagues and also opponents for quite a few years so far and I find this accusations very disturbing, not only for Mihaela herself, but for the chess community as well. She is a very dedicated player who loves playing and teaching chess. All the games we played against each other were very combative and fought until the last drop of blood. I have a high respect and consideration for Mihaela's chess.
     I understand that losing to a lower rated opponent can be quite frustrating, but I don't understand the need of being so paranoid and unprofessional. I find this whole situation simply outrageous and I want to point out that chess is not war and not all the means that can be used to win are ok. I used to think that professional chess players are very intelligent and highly sensible persons and as sportsmen they all demonstrate a high level of fair play. Well, I guess I couldn't be more wrong.
     I understand that we all want our rights to be respected, then why not respect the rights of others? I can understand the accusations made though I could never agree with them. I understand that with so many cheating cases around, one might get paranoid. What I don't understand is:

1. On what grounds could someone who didn't even get the chance to play against Mihaela accuse her?

2. Why the arbiter to whom the accusations were presented after the game finished didn't check Mihaela immediately in order to clarify the situation and avoid all this fuzz?

3. Why the organizers, after thoroughly having analyzed the situation and having come to the conclusion that there were no proof of any kind and the player was wrongly accused didn't take out those shameful signed letters from the walls of the playing hall? Why didn't they publicly apologize to Mihaela?

4. Why the organizers didn't give a warning to the player who clearly took advantage of this situation in order to put pressure on Mihaela before their game?


     Maybe some of you would think of this words to be somewhat harsh, but how do you think Mihaela felt with all this false accusations? How should I feel now as a professional chess player? Should I be afraid to play good chess and to win against stronger opponents? Does it mean that in 10 years I will be cataloged as an expired chess player who doesn't have the right to play strong? What is with all this nonsense?
     I am very disappointed that such kind of situations can happen nowadays and I hope that conclusions will be drawn and measures will be taken so that such unfair and abusing behavior would never happen again!

     Mihaela, all your friends and colleagues are with you, cheering for you and my admiration for your fighting spirit has only grown! Keep up the good work and I cross my fingers for you to keep offending those high egos!

A little faith

     Another rainy day has come with some inspiration for a new post.
     Unlike one must think, it's not another sad text, it is an optimistic one today :)

     As you might have seen, I played an Open in Iasi, in the city where I live the most part of the time. It was a very nice tournament, one which I hope will become traditional.

     The tournament started very well for me, with 3/3p, beating a 2530 GM in the 3rd round and with a totally winning position in the 4th game, with me having black against a strong GM. Unfortunately I lost that game, I guess I felt the victory to close and it made me play some unexplainable moves... All in all, the tournament went pretty good for me, I won some Elo points and I had some very nice time.You can find the final standings here: http://chess-results.com/tnr123153.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=9&wi=821
     Iasi has changed a lot in the last few years. It has become a very beautiful city, with lots of nice places. It felt very good to be "the host" and to show my friends my favorite places.

 
     As about what's next, I will play the Romanian Rapid Club Cup in the upcoming weekend. Until then, I am quite caught up with all kind of projects I have to make at University.
      I will not play any tournaments until July, when I'm going to participate at the European Individual Women Championship, in Plovdiv.
      As about June, it is going to be a month full of exams for me, but I am quite optimistic about them ;)
      I don't know if it's about the summer coming closer and closer, or about something else, but I have started to
look to the future with more confidence and the things have started to get better. All I could complain about some weeks ago is not such a big deal now.
     I guess that "good always wins", just have a little faith.

 xoxo from Iasi ;)