Window in the sky

     Here it is- the first post in April :)

Pretty cool view to see every morning :)

     I am in Skopje, playing the "Karpos Open". My chess is going not so well, but there's still some time to improve my tournament position. You can find all the information about the tournament here: http://chess-results.com/tnr121297.aspx?lan=11&art=2&rd=7&fed=ROU&turdet=YES&flag=30&wi=984

     As about my general impressions about Macedonia, it's much nicer than I expected. Skopje has a lot of nice places to see. I like a lot the cities which have an "old town" and the Skopje's one is very cool, with many cosy cafes and traditional shops. 

     Here are some photo impressions:

The Old City

xoxo from Skopje ;)

The Game

     It's been a very interesting month for me, one in which I had some very good time doing the things I like the most.

With a dear friend- Katerina Pavlidou

     The Europeans ended for me not as well as it had started. If I had a 2600+ performance after the first five rounds and a high level of chess, the tournament ended with me showing a 2440 performance and only one truly good game out of the last 6. If to consider that it was the first tournament of the year for me, after a two and a half months break, the result is normal, one that I hope to be followed by better ones :)

     As about Armenia, I enjoyed it and I am grateful for the nice people I have met there and for the friends I've made :)

     Aaah, not to forget to mention, if you remember, I was telling how much I liked the Armenian food in the last post... Well, I guess I liked it too much, as I got a very nasty food poisoning in the last days- maybe that's the reason why I started winning again :))) (I suppose it is a joke, well, the last part, the food poisoning wasn't any of a joke :P )

     I've drawn all the necessary conclusions and I am ready to play the next tournaments (or I will be in about 10 days :)

Constantin Lupulescu

     The last but not the least important thing about the tournament- Constantin Lupulescu shared the 2nd place with an impressive 2759 performance and has qualified for the 2015 World Cup, with which I congratulate him once again! 2/2 in the last two games, both with black, against higher rated players, both in French- hm... maybe I should rethink my opening repertoire ;)

     Now, about next tournaments- I will play the "Karpos Open",which will be held  in Macedonia, from the 29th of March. It is going to be a very strong tournament, I am nr.82 so far in the starting ranking list, which you can check here: http://chess-results.com/tnr121297.aspx?lan=11

     I will play another three tournaments after that, about which I'll keep you posted ( of course :D )!

     That's it so far, I have so much to write about, but let's keep the intrigue until the next posts ;)

     An idea to keep your mind busy- "Do you think your personal karma affects your level of chess?"

xoxo from Iasi ;)