World Cities Team Championship

   Today starts the World Cities Team Championship for the Sheikh Zayed Cup in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.It's scheduled to take place from 21-29 December. The championship has a knock-out format,with the overall prize fund of 150,000 $.

   The championship in UAE joins qualifiers from the World Team Championship, Continental Teams and 25 top zonal teams from the Istanbul Oplympiad. Teams will be grupped by rating in 8 groups of 4 teams each who will play a single round robin. The top 2 qualify into the knockout round of 16 followed by exciting Quarterfinal and Semifinal matches and a breathtaking Final show.
   Here are the qualified federations:

1	Olympiad Champion	Armenia
2	World Team Champion	Hungary - 5th (after Armenia, China, Ukraine, Russia)
3	European Champion	Germany
4	American Champion	Brazil
5	Asian Cities Champion	Kazakhstan - 2nd (after China)
6	African Champion	Egypt
7	Host Country	UAE
8	Zone 1.1	Netherlands - 6th
9	Zone 1.2	Slovenia - 25th
10	Zone 1.3	Sweden - 16th
11	Zone 1.4	Romania - 8th
12	Zone 1.5	Serbia - 14th
13	Zone 1.6	Russia
14	Zone 1.7	Latvia - 28th
15	Zone 1.8	Azerbaijan - 10th
16	Zone 1.9	Ukraine
17	Zone 2.1	United States Of America
18	Zone 2.2	Canada
19	Zone 2.3	Cuba - 11th
20	Zone 2.4	Peru - 55th
21	Zone 2.5	Argentina - 22nd
22	Zone 3.1	Iran - 61st
23	Zone 3.2	Bangladesh - 33rd
24	Zone 3.3	Vietnam - 7th
25	Zone 3.4	Uzbekistan - 24th
26	Zone 3.5	China
27	Zone 3.6	Australia - 32nd
28	Zone 3.7	India
29	Zone 4.1	Tunisia - 75th
30	Zone 4.2	Uganda - 90th (after Egypt)
31	Zone 4.3	South Africa - 62nd
32	New Zone 4.4	Nigeria - 96th

Romania's team has also qualified and it will be represented by the team of the city of Timisoara:

1 GM Lupulescu Constantin 2618 ROU 0.0

2 GM Parligras Mircea-Emilian 2628 ROU 0.0

3 GM Marin Mihail 2564 ROU 0.0

4 GM Nevednichy Vladislav 2545 ROU 0.0

5 GM Manolache Marius 2541 ROU 0.0

Here's the list of the registered teams I found on http://chess-results.com/tnr87210.aspx?art=32&lan=11:

1 Paris 2677
2 Hoogeveen 2666
3 Lviv 2659
4 Baku 2626
5 Saratov 2626
6 Novi Sad 2611
7 Ptuj 2594
8 London 2594
9 Timisoara 2589
10 Athens 2558
11 Chicago 2548
12 Astana 2544
13 Lund-Linkoping 2540
14 Riga 2528
15 Tehran 2499
16 Tashkent 2499
17 Cairo 2465
18 Manila 2448
19 Istanbul 2440
20 Dhaka 2437
21 Wu Xi 2391
22 Al Ain 2371
23 Chennai 2321
24 Kampala 2234
25 Canberra 2220

   The 4 categories of teams has been drawn yesterday:

1st Category			2nd Category
Paris (FRA)	2677		Novi Sad (SRB)	2611
Hoogeveen (NED)	2666		London (ENG)	2594
Lviv (UKR)	2659		Ptuj (SLO)	2594
Baku (AZE)	2626		Timisoara (ROM)	2589
Saratov (RUS)	2626		Athens (GRE)	2558
Alain (UAE)	2371		Chicago (USA)	2548

3rd Category			4th Category
Lund Linkoping (SWE)	2540		Istanbul (TUR)	2440
Riga (LTU)	2528		Dhaka (BAN)	2437
Astana (KAZ)	2520		Wu Xi (CHN)	2391
Tehran (IRI)	2499		Chennai (IND)	2321
Tashkent (UZB)	2499		Kampala (UGA)	2234
Cairo (EGY)	2465		Canberra (AUS)	2220

   A total of 150,000$ in cash prizes shall be awarded for the World Cities Championship for Sheikh Zayed Cup as follows:

• 16 eliminated from Round Robin Groups receive $2,500 each
• 8 qualifiers to Round of 16 receive $4,000 each
• 4 Quarterfinalists receive $5,000 each
• Fourth Place receives $10,000
• Third Place receives $12,000
• Second Place receives $15,000
• Champion receives $21,000

   I would like to wish good luck to our team and we'll keep our fingers crossed for them!

Playing in the snow

   Here's a big pictorial report from today's 2nd round of the "Pius Branzeu Memorial":

Top seed of the tournament- GM Vladislav Nevednichy (2545)

WIM Veronica Foisor (2208)

IM Adrian Petrisor (2380)

IM Cristina Foisor (2383)

WIM Angela Dragomirescu (2252)

WGM Iulia Ionica (2220)

Malureanu George (2116)

IM Mladen Milenkovic (2399)- the only foreigner playing in the tournament

Epic encounter- boyfriend vs girlfriend and no,it wasn't a draw, I guess someone will have to suffer ;)

Family playing next to each other- FM Calin Dragomirescu (2215) and WIM Angela Dragomirescu (2252)

Our beautiful and talented junior,the U16 European Silver Medalist- WFM  Daria Visanescu (2050)

GM Marius Manolache (2541), I'm playing against him tomorrow (damn,I should have made a worse picture :)))

Thophies are waiting for their winners with the arbiter  of the tournament- Dinu  Nicula

Who's the best grandparent,huh?

"Red ponytail" is tough, what should I do now??

"Please,not the knight!"

Alexandra Nevednichy, the daughter of Gabriela Olarasu and Vladislav Nevednichy -right, and  me visualizing myself with the big cup on left

My first round game 

   An interesting round awaits for us tomorrow,at 9 am . I'm playing against the 2nd seed Marius Manolache with black (hope he's not an early bird ;))) The Foisor's family motto will be "Every point goes into the family's pocket", as they're playing against each other.

   Here's the link where you can follow the tournament results:  http://chess-results.com/tnr84809.aspx?art=2&rd=3&lan=11

   These being said, I'll start my preparation ;)

   Will keep you posted!