A Chess Saga

     2017 is already here and it has brought loads and loads of snow in Bucharest... (yep, Bucharest is my new home now!).

     While most of the "normal" people had to return to their normal schedule and go to work, I'm taking advantage of the privileges of being a chess player, staying comfy at home, drinking tea and planing the calendar for this year... 

     2016 was definitely an interesting year! There were many ups and downs, but somehow, more ups come to my mind, which is a good thing...

     I hope that 2017 will be at least as good as 2016!

     November & December were some veeeery full months for me! I think that I've never played so much chess! There were more or less successful tournaments, but I've understood that it can't be healthy to play so much if you want to think of yourself as of a professional.

     I hope to play less in 2017 and if possible- better! :)) Why not, right?

     I've achieved the "so much wanted" 2400+ Elo again, though I try not to overthink it. After all, chess is not about ratings and this 2400 doesn't either feed me or warm me any better than 2395... 

     I hope that I'll be able to make the necessary adjustments this year so I would start playing better chess, that's the main goal (besides buying a sofa and a TV for the new "hommie" :)). 

     These being said, here's a little timeline of the last "chess months":

Calimanesti, Romanian League, beginning of November, smiley face

late November, Kings' Tournament- vs GM Mihail Marin (my face as expressive as ever!)

Again a very friendly Irina, this time vs GM Vlad Jianu

Romgaz Open- very late November- again a "happy" face

     

My mood at the beginning of December!

Wining 3 National titles (Rapid, Blitz and Solving) right after the beginning of December deserved a smile!

Finally a happy face and a week break from chess!

Vandoeuvre, France, first half of December- happy face goes on!

End of December, Austria, right before the last 3 "very successful" rounds (0,5p/3)

     I will finish on this positive note, the face I had after those 3 rounds got no official record!

xoxo from Bucharest :) 

November Thoughts

     A lot of  time has passed with me not writing...

     The truth is that there have been some interesting weeks since the Romanian League ended. With the European Team Championship in Iceland coming up, it was time to prepare a bit for it. Said- done!

     I tried myself in a new posture after that. I joined GM Dorian Rogozenco in commenting the games from the Kings' Tournament, Romania-Germany match. It was a really nice experience which I really enjoyed.
     It looked for me that it's an easy job- to do some live commenting, write a round report, interview the players... Well, it turned out that it's not as easy as it seemed. Of course, it is a pleasant job- observing others' mistakes instead of making them in your own game :))), but it's a very thorough work, finding and pointing out the critical moments in each game, trying to understand what was in each player's mind in those moments. It is also needed to show some tact in the commentaries, putting aside your own emotions. I cheered for the Romanian team and I was sad of course when they were losing a match, but I had to keep by objectivity, or at least try to, in each round's report which, by the way, had some serious work behind it... All the players were professional GMs and there were many theoretical lines they played I had not much knowledge about and in order not to look 'stupid' in the commentaries I had to do some research about them.
    What can I say? Being a commentator was very good for me, I learned a lot of new ideas and lines, I enjoyed finding out the way GMs think during the game and I concluded that even though there's still a lot for me to learn in chess, each GM is human and they are quite beatable!
     I've also started to miss a bit playing chess myself and I am very eager to be back to the game at the ETCC in Reykjavik!


Wish you all a nice and peaceful Sunday!