November Thoughts

Dear readers,

My apologies for writing so rarely. I've had a very tough schedule through this second half of the year- a lot of travelling from one tournament to another. It hasn't been very easy, but that's really nothing to complain about. I am very lucky to do what I love.

The last 4 tournaments I played- the Croatian League, Maria Albulet Memorial, the ETCC and Romanian League went quite well. I won the 1st board in Croatia after which Caissa smiled to me again- won the "Maria Albulet Memorial"...

The European Team Chess Championship came afterwards. It was the 2nd time I had the honor to play for Romania's team on the 1st board. It was very interesting and challenging. Somehow, I didn't play many strong tournaments after the EIWCC in Riga and I was a bit "bored of chess" if I can say so. You know this feeling when you play a lot vs lower rated opponents and at some point you feel like you can't take any more games like this- avoiding too "dry" variations, playing strange openings, having to fight in all the games like it's the last one. It can become a bit too stressful. That is why I was very happy when hearing I'd be on the 1st board- it meant I could finally play some "calm chess" and just enjoy it. I guess this is the main reason why I had a quite good tournament, scoring 6/9p. We had a slow start, but as I've noticed at this kind of tournaments- the finish is the most important. A good finish helped us share 4-5th place which was definitely a success for us!

from right to left: Alina l'Ami, Corina Peptan, Ciprian Nanu, Elena-Luminita Cosma, me and Mihaela Sandu

After barely 2 days of rest we had to go to the Romanian League. The opponents were not as strong as at the ETCC, but my chess got worse- too many blunders and misses, I guess I didn't have enough rest... It was a bit frustrating to know that I can play better and still not to be able to show it. Considering this fact, 6,5/8p was a decent result- good enough to help our team- "CS Politehnica Aqua Carpatica Iasi" to become Champion for the 3rd year in the raw!

from left to right: Bella Khotenashvilli, Alina l'Ami, me and Miruna Lehaci

There is one more classical tournament waiting for me this year- a strong ladies round robin in Wroclaw, Poland. It will start on the 29th of November. I hope to have a good rest until then and to  show some quality chess there!

May you have a wonderful end of the week!

Summer Breeze

     These long summer days with their lazy breeze... With the eyes barely opened and the hot sun fondling my skin I dream about, hm, about- well, I actually live my dream!
     The days of me being a professional chess player have finally come, no more University concerns, no more chains holding me back, I live the life I've always dreamed of. What a fantastic feeling, waking up and not being sure if I still dream or this really is my life :D
     Ah, I've remembered, our team- "Politehnica Iasi" has become the new Romanian Rapid Club Cup winner as well! Not a bad start of the summer season, right? ;)

 

Team "Politehnica Iasi": Vlad and Andrei Ungureanu, Alina l'Ami, Vasile Manole, myself, Vladimir Danilov, Ioana Gelip (photo credits: https://thinkingsquares.wordpress.com/)

     A short trip to the UK has opened my unchained phase of life! It was so nice to see my sister and to spend quality time together! The chess part of the trip was not the best one, but it was not the main goal, so there's not much to complain about :)
     Many tournaments and many dreams coming true are ahead and I can finally say that I am happy! You can envy me for having a job which is actually the thing I love the most- playing chess while traveling around the World! Right now I envy a bit myself so I'll try to make this feeling last as much as possible ;)
     While closing my eyes and letting the sun invade my thoughts, here are some pictures that bring the smile on my face every time I see them:

     Peace and a fantastic summer to all of you!


xoxo from my dreams! ;)

Romanian Superleague

     The Romanian Club Championship has started yesterday, in Mamaia, with a lot of interesting matches beginning from the very first round.
     We won the match against "CSM Bucuresti":

Bo.	5	CSM BUCUREŞTI	Рейт	-	6	CS POLITEHNICA-ANTIBIOTICE IAŞI	Рейт	1 : 3
5.1	IM	Peptan, Corina-Isabela	2434	-	GM	Lagno, Kateryna	2542	½ - ½
5.2	WGM	Ionescu, Irina	2229	-	WGM	Bulmaga, Irina	2410	0 - 1
5.3	WNM	Anusca, Madalina-Maria	2042	-	WGM	L'ami, Alina	2358	½ - ½
5.4	WCM	Morea, Georgiana-Steluta	1881	-	WIM	Padurariu, Ioana-Smaranda	2205	0 - 1

     I like playing in Romania, especially the Superleague, as it's a team championship and I feel very good playing for my team "Politehnica Iasi". I've missed seeing my teammates, having long walks and just having a great time with them :)

     

     Here you can follow the live games: http://www.sahlive.ro/ and the results: http://chess-results.com/tnr109534.aspx?art=0&lan=11&wi=821

Will keep you posted!

Rainbow

     I am back in Iasi, morally preparing myself for the following 6 exams that I have to pass.
     The last weekend was so nice! I can't believe that I was still playing chess yesterday, feeling great and I have to study for my exams now. My session will last for 2 weeks. I hope that everything will be just fine and I'll be able to start enjoying my super busy summer schedule afterwards.
     I already miss the tournament atmosphere. The reason why I like to play tournaments in Romania is because I know everyone and I've got a lot of friends with whom I can hang out :)
     We were playing blitz in the first evening. It was very fun playing against such strong players and beating them time to time :D

Constantin Lupulescu vs Mircea Parligras

Vladislav Nevednichy vs Constantin Lupulescu

      The tournament ended very well for our team- we took the 1st place in the women's section and 2nd place in the men's one!

      You can see the final standings below:

1	CS Politehnica Iasi	*	*	2	1½	3	2½	3	1	2½	3	3	3	17	0	24.5	298.5
2	ACS Sah Apa Nova Bucuresti	1	1½	*	*	2	0	3	3	2½	2½	3	3	15	0	21.5	233.8
3	CSM Bucuresti	0	½	1	3	*	*	2½	2	3	2	3	3	14	0	20.0	212.0
4	Clubul Central de Sah Bucuresti	0	2	0	0	½	1	*	*	2	1	3	3	8	0	12.5	113.5
5	CS Otopeni	½	0	½	½	0	1	1	2	*	*	3	3	6	0	11.5	91.3
6	CS Snagov	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	*	*	0	0	0.0	0.0

     Here are the first 5 ranked teams in the men's section:

1	2	Clubul de Sah al Municipiului Baia Mare	9	8	0	1	16	0	27.5	553.5
2	3	CS Politehnica Iasi	9	7	1	1	15	2	26.0	530.5
3	1	CS AEM Luxten Timisoara	9	7	1	1	15	0	26.0	527.3
4	10	Clubul Central de Sah Bucuresti	9	5	1	3	11	0	22.0	386.0
5	5	CSM Lugoj	9	5	0	4	10	0	23.5	438.3

     Here are some photos from the last day and from the closing ceremony:

COnstantin Lupulescu following the game of Crisitian Chirila vs Dieter Nisipeanu

Sergiu Grunberg following the games of his team- "AEM"

Erwin l'Ami with white vs Andrei Cioara

Deac Bogdan vs Stegariu Vlad

Corina Peptan

Madalina Anusca with white

Georgiana Morea with black

Luminita Cosma vs Luiza Marin

Teodora Vasile

Alina l'Ami

Smaranda Padurariu and Jan Smeets

The team of "Politehnica Iasi"

The youngest team

3rd place- CSM Bucuresti

2nd place- ACS Sah Apa Nova Bucuresti

1st place- Politehnica Iasi

3rd place in men's section: CS AEM Luxten Timisoara

2nd place- Politehnica Iasi

1st place- Clubul de Sah al Municipiului Baia Mare

Smaranda Padurariu

Rainbow on our way back :)

Playing vs Marin Luiza

Against Corina Peptan

     It's been a very nice weekend!

xoxo from Iasi ;)

     

Romanian Rapid Club Cup

     I am at the Romanian Rapid Club Cup with my team- "Politehnica Iasi', in Snagov now.
     There are 6 teams playing in the women section:

1. Clubul Central de Sah Bucuresti (RtgAvg:2016 / TB1: 2 / TB2: 2)
Bo.		Name	Rtg	FED	Pts.	Games
1	WIM	Marin Irina-Luiza	2145	ROU	1.0	3.0
2	WFM	Baciu Anca-Otilia	2062	ROU	1.0	3.0
3	WNM	Vasilescu Maria	1842	ROU	0.5	3.0
4	I	Nastase Andreea-Cristina	1620	ROU	0.0	0.0
2. CSM Bucuresti (RtgAvg:2241 / TB1: 4 / TB2: 0)
Bo.		Name	Rtg	FED	Pts.	Games
1	IM	Peptan Corina-Isabela	2419	ROU	1.0	2.0
2	WGM	Ionescu Irina	2239	ROU	1.5	3.0
3	WNM	Anusca Madalina-Maria	2065	ROU	1.0	1.0
4	WCM	Morea Georgiana-Steluta	1866	ROU	2.0	3.0
3. CS Otopeni (RtgAvg:1792 / TB1: 2 / TB2: 0)
Bo.		Name	Rtg	FED	Pts.	Games
1	WCM	Vasile Teodora	1952	ROU	1.0	3.0
2	I	Stanciu Andreea-Briana	1741	ROU	2.0	3.0
3	I	Firaru Roxana-Maria	1684	ROU	1.5	3.0
4. ACS Sah Apa Nova Bucuresti (RtgAvg:2112 / TB1: 4 / TB2: 0)
Bo.		Name	Rtg	FED	Pts.	Games
1	WGM	Cosma Elena-Luminita	2301	ROU	3.0	3.0
2	WFM	Chirita Andra-Marina	2022	ROU	1.5	3.0
3	WCM	Ilie Maria-Ruxandra	2012	ROU	0.0	0.0
4	WCM	Serbanescu Diana-Maria	1944	ROU	2.0	3.0
5. CS Snagov (RtgAvg:1108 / TB1: 0 / TB2: 0)
Bo.		Name	Rtg	FED	Pts.	Games
1	II	Rata Anamaria	1209	ROU	0.0	3.0
2	III	Dragomir Carmen-Teodora	1115	ROU	0.0	3.0
3	III	Istrate Camelia-Elena	1001	ROU	0.0	3.0
6. CS Politehnica Iasi (RtgAvg:2325 / TB1: 6 / TB2: 0)
Bo.		Name	Rtg	FED	Pts.	Games
1	WGM	Bulmaga Irina	2363	ROU	2.0	3.0
2	WGM	L'ami Alina	2405	ROU	3.0	3.0
3	WIM	Padurariu Ioana-Smaranda	2208	ROU	3.0	3.0
4	WCM	Gelip Ioana	2047	ROU	0.0	0.0

     Our team haw 3 wins out of 3 so far. You can follow the results here: http://chess-results.com/tnr101903.aspx?art=8&lan=1&wi=821

     The men's section has gathered a lot of strong teams with all the best Romanian GMs playing.

1. CS AEM Luxten Timisoara (RtgAvg:2556 / TB1: 4 / TB2: 0)
Bo.		Name	Rtg	FED	Pts.	Games
1	GM	Lupulescu Constantin	2634	ROU	1.5	3.0
2	GM	Parligras Mircea-Emilian	2632	ROU	2.5	3.0
3	GM	Nevednichy Vladislav	2580	ROU	3.0	3.0
4	IM	Grunberg Sergiu-Henric	2379	ROU	0.0	0.0
5	CM	Toma Radu-Cristian	2143	ROU	2.0	3.0
2. Clubul de Sah al Municipiului Baia Mare (RtgAvg:2555 / TB1: 6 / TB2: 0)
Bo.		Name	Rtg	FED	Pts.	Games
1	GM	Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter	2625	ROU	2.5	3.0
2	GM	Vajda Levente	2550	ROU	3.0	3.0
3	GM	Szabo Gergely-Andras-Gyula	2555	ROU	2.5	3.0
4	GM	Grigore George-Gabriel	2491	ROU	0.5	1.0
5	FM	Hajbok Robert	2365	ROU	2.0	2.0
6	FM	Szabo Attila	2290	ROU	0.0	0.0
3. CS Politehnica Iasi (RtgAvg:2477 / TB1: 6 / TB2: 0)
Bo.		Name	Rtg	FED	Pts.	Games
1	GM	L'ami Erwin	2642	NED	3.0	3.0
2	IM	Mateuta Gabriel	2477	ROU	2.5	3.0
3	IM	Danilov Vladimir	2434	ROU	1.0	2.0
4	FM	Ungureanu Vlad	2324	ROU	0.5	1.0
5	FM	Manole Vasile	2355	ROU	0.0	0.0
6	CM	Stegariu Vlad-Ionut	2279	ROU	3.0	3.0
4. CSU Ploiesti (RtgAvg:2406 / TB1: 4 / TB2: 0)
Bo.		Name	Rtg	FED	Pts.	Games
1	IM	Cioara Andrei-Nestor	2471	ROU	2.0	3.0
2	IM	Tomescu Vlad	2389	ROU	2.0	3.0
3	IM	Baratosi Daniel	2432	ROU	0.0	0.0
4	IM	Ionescu Doru-Alexandru	2331	ROU	1.5	2.0
5	FM	Voiteanu Gabriel	2278	ROU	1.0	1.0
6	CM	Deac Bogdan-Daniel	2173	ROU	2.0	3.0
5. CSM Lugoj (RtgAvg:2391 / TB1: 4 / TB2: 0)
Bo.		Name	Rtg	FED	Pts.	Games
1	GM	Jianu Vlad-Cristian	2525	ROU	2.0	3.0
2	FM	Balla Tamas-Kristof	2382	ROU	1.5	3.0
3	IM	Dragomirescu Robin-Alexandru	2372	ROU	3.0	3.0
4	IM	Vasilescu Lucian-Mihail	2283	ROU	1.0	2.0
5	CM	Domanyek Ernest-Iosif	2206	ROU	1.0	1.0
6	I	Neagu Mihai-Cosmin	1992	ROU	0.0	0.0

     You can follow the results here: http://chess-results.com/tnr101901.aspx?art=0&lan=11&wi=821

Here are some photos:

Erwin l'Ami playing with white

Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu

Levente Vajda

Vlad Jianu with white

Cristian Chirila with black

Lucian Miron vs Tiberiu Georgescu

"Politehnica Iasi" with Vladimir Danilov, Gabriel Mateuta and Erwin l'Ami

"AEM" with Vladislav Nevednichy, Mircea Parligras and Constantin Lupulescu

     A big photo report from last night's blitz matches will follow!