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 ;)

Good Day

     There it is- a half of the Europeans has already passed.
     It is as I expected, a very difficult, but in the same time a very challenging and interesting tournament. I've played against strong opponents, I learned new things and I've fighted in every game until the very end. I am satisfied with my chess so far- well, it's impossible to be 100% satisfied, but I understand that there's a reason I'm still an IM and not a GM- there is place for improvement.
     We had a free day today and as a "real professional" I went to an excursion through the holly places of Yerevan. I had some very good time and I learned many new things about christianity and about the Armenian history.
     Another thing I can't help mentioning is the Armenian food- it is so tasty that I think I will try to learn how to cook some of their dishes- especially their traditional soup "Spas". I eat it at least once a day :D
     I hope that the second part of the tournament will go at least as well as the first one :)
     The other Romanians keep their chances for qualification, with Constantin Lupulescu and Mircea Parligras having the best score among us- "+2".

46	GM	Lupulescu Constantin	2643	ROU	1	1	½	½	½	½	4.0	42	2670	10	2.50	Official results
74	GM	Nevednichy Vladislav	2591	ROU	½	0	1	0	½	1	3.0	158	2308	10	-20.00	Official results
85	GM	Jianu Vlad-Cristian	2574	ROU	1	½	0	1	½	½	3.5	87	2515	10	-2.90	Official results
88	GM	Parligras Mircea-Emilian	2572	ROU	1	0	1	0	1	1	4.0	67	2529	10	-2.20	Official results
166	IM	Bulmaga Irina	2375	ROU	½	1	0	½	½	0	2.5	161	2547	10	12.10	Official results
187	FM	Deac Bogdan-Daniel	2322	ROU	0	1	½	0	½	0	2.0	202	2324	15	0.30	Official results
251		Porfireanu Serban	1903	ROU	0	0	0	0	0	1	1.0	255	1337	15	-18.30	Official results

     Here are some photos from the last days:

You can find more photos on the tournament's site: http://eicc2014.am/gallery

With Maria Gevorgyan and Katerina Pavlidou ;)

xoxo from Yerevan! ;)

     

Closing Ceremony

     The tournament is over and the most of us already got home.
     My finish wasn't very successful, as I lost the last 2 rounds... Well, the most important thing- getting over 2400 has been achieved anyways, but still- it left me with a bitter taste.
     The new European Champion is Alexander Moiseenko of Ukraine, with 8p/11. He lost against Ian Nepomniachtchi in the last round, but it made no difference. Nine other players got the same number of points, but they were worse on coeffcient:

1		GM	MOISEENKO Alexander	UKR	2698	8.0	2643	71.5	72.0	6	2714	10	13.4
2		GM	ALEKSEEV Evgeny	RUS	2700	8.0	2639	72.0	76.0	5	2800	10	13.9
3		GM	ROMANOV Evgeny	RUS	2640	8.0	2637	73.0	78.5	6	2789	10	21.8
4		GM	BELIAVSKY Alexander G	SLO	2628	8.0	2629	68.5	73.5	5	2783	10	22.5
5		GM	LUPULESCU Constantin	ROU	2634	8.0	2624	69.5	74.5	5	2778	10	21.0
6		GM	VALLEJO PONS Francisco	ESP	2695	8.0	2613	68.0	73.5	5	2776	10	11.0
7		GM	MOVSESIAN Sergei	ARM	2693	8.0	2606	66.0	71.0	5	2769	10	10.3
8		GM	NEPOMNIACHTCHI Ian	RUS	2710	8.0	2596	65.0	70.0	5	2763	10	6.8
9		GM	DREEV Aleksey	RUS	2654	8.0	2594	68.0	73.0	5	2754	10	13.9
10		GM	MELKUMYAN Hrant	ARM	2622	8.0	2551	64.5	69.0	6	2709	10	12.5

     Constantin Lupulescu had a very good performance- sharing the 1st place, but being a bit unlucky and taking the 5th place. It is the best result which he has achieved so far and I wish him a lot of luck in the World Cup, which will take place in Norway, in August.

     Here are some photos from the closing ceremony:

While listening to the anthem of Ukraine- Alexander had some tears in his eyes

Taking photos during the closing ceremony

Katerina Pavlidou, Anna Iwanow and me (from right to left)

A very interesting dancing performance by some local artists

The trophees waiting for their winners

Katerina and Anna

Alexander Moiseenko, Evgeny Alekseev and Evgeny Romanov-getting their medals and checks

Anna Iwanow receiving a Performance prize 

Bogdan Deac- getting the 4th prize in the Performance category

      Here you can find the final results of all the Romanians:

21	GM	NISIPEANU Liviu-Dieter	2679	ROU	0	1	1	½	½	½	½	0	1	½	1	6.5	83	2574	10	-14.40
54	GM	LUPULESCU Constantin	2634	ROU	½	1	1	½	1	1	½	1	½	½	½	8.0	5	2778	10	21.00
102	GM	PARLIGRAS Mircea-Emilian	2570	ROU	½	1	0	1	1	½	½	½	0	0	1	6.0	110	2531	10	-4.60
112	GM	JIANU Vlad-Cristian	2555	ROU	1	½	0	1	½	½	0	1	½	½	½	6.0	98	2588	10	5.30
142	IM	ARDELEAN George-Catalin	2510	ROU	1	0	1	½	0	½	1	0	1	0	½	5.5	154	2465	10	-5.40
175	IM	ANTON Teodor	2441	ROU	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	1	½	5.5	160	2418	10	-3.10
199	WGM	BULMAGA Irina	2393	ROU	0	1	0	1	½	1	0	½	1	0	0	5.0	174	2432	15	10.05
201	IM	MANEA Alexandru	2389	ROU	½	0	1	½	½	0	½	0	½	1	0	4.5	203	2394	10	0.10
211	IM	PETRISOR Adrian-Marian	2378	ROU	0	1	0	0	1	0	1	1	0	½	0	4.5	212	2337	10	-3.90
219	FM	POSEDARU Bogdan	2339	ROU	½	0	0	0	½	0	1	0	1	0	1	4.0	249	2143	15	-42.00
220		STANCIU Alexandru-Ovidiu	2335	ROU	1	0	0	0	½	1	½	1	0	0	1	5.0	185	2385	15	10.80
259		DEAC Bogdan-Daniel	2183	ROU	0	0	½	½	1	½	1	1	0	0	½	5.0	186	2403	15	43.35

     I enjoyed the tournament a lot and I wish I would have the possibility to play only these kind of strong tournaments. I think that this is the best way to get a stronger player and this is the thing I want the most- to become a really strong GM!

xoxo from Romania ;)

Resistance

     It is the 6th round today.

Me during the 3rd round

     I've got 2,5p out of 5 so far. It's quite good- I won against the lower rated opponents and lost against the higher rated ones- yesterday's game was an exception- I managed to make a draw against GM Gritsak Orest (2539) with black :) I suffered in an endgame with a pawn down, but I didn't want to lose at all and I guess that Caissa was on my side. You can see the game here:


     There are 2 players with 4,5p out of 5- Moiseenko Alexander and Shengelia David- they're playing against each other today.
      The  Romanian who's got the most of points is Constantin Lupulescu, with 4p out of 5. He's got a tough game today, playing against Grachev Boris.

6	7	54		GM	LUPULESCU Constantin	2634	4		4	GM	GRACHEV Boris	2687		19
6	29	102		GM	PARLIGRAS Mircea-Emilian	2570	3½		3½	GM	HRACEK Zbynek	2628		57
6	37	112		GM	JIANU Vlad-Cristian	2555	3		3	GM	NEPOMNIACHTCHI Ian	2710		4
6	39	126		GM	YILMAZ Mustafa	2537	3		3	GM	NISIPEANU Liviu-Dieter	2679		21
6	63	142		IM	ARDELEAN George-Catalin	2510	2½		2½	GM	CHEPARINOV Ivan	2700		12
6	81	199		WGM	BULMAGA Irina	2393	2½		2½	IM	PRIZANT Jaroslav	2537		127
6	82	201		IM	MANEA Alexandru	2389	2½		2½	GM	ZOLER Dan	2533		129
6	93	211		IM	PETRISOR Adrian-Marian	2378	2		2	IM	MATINIAN Nikita	2491		152
6	101	175		IM	ANTON Teodor	2441	2		2	IM	VUILLEUMIER Alexandre	2319		224
6	109	259			DEAC Bogdan-Daniel	2183	2		2	IM	ARNGRIMSSON Dagur	2390		200
6	122	271			ULANOWSKI Karol	2091	1½		1½		STANCIU Alexandru-Ovidiu	2335		220
6	129	219		FM	POSEDARU Bogdan	2339	1		1		POGOSIAN Vladimir	2132		267

     It is interesting to note that Efimenko Zahar dropped off the tournament with 1,5 p out of 5, after he suffered another loss yesterday. It is a very tough event for everyone and every half point is golden.
     There's the rule of no draws until the move 41 applied here, so it makes the games even more hard fought.
     I play against a Russian IM today- Prizant Jaroslav (2537). I have finally got white against a strong player and I hope to use it well.
     You can follow the live games on the official site of the event: http://en.eicc2013.pl/index.php/live where you can also find a nice photo and video gallery: http://en.eicc2013.pl/index.php/gm
     As about Legnica- the city is very enjoyable, with a lot of parks and nice streets to take walks. You can see some photos here:

Anna Warakomska, Katerina Pavlidou and me ( from right to left)

Katerina and Anna

Anna Iwanow, Anna Warakomska and Katerina Pavlidou

     There are only 2 more games until the free day and I hope to be in a good mood by that time :)

xoxo from Legnica ;)