One way or another

     It's good to be back :D
     I am happy and calm and relaxed and full of hope and ready to work again! It feels so good to have a nice tournament from time to time :))) You know, +20 Elo points can't be found on the street like 20 lei :)))
     This tournament has proved to me once again that I can achieve whatever I want. It is so weird that right before the Women's World Team Ch. I played the Romanian Individual Ch. and the result was quite opposite- I finished only the 5th and with -1 Elo points. One may ask "Why?" That's a good question. I think that my playing depends on too many "non-chess" factors and that's the mistake. It's not like I want all of these factors to influence me- I just still haven't learned how not to. I think that it's a matter of time and constantly working on myself and on my "thoughts autodiscipline".
     All in all, I am happy to be in Chisinau again and to share my happiness with the closest to me people.

P.S. If you were wondering what was on my "lucky playlist" in Astana, here are the 5 songs I listened to day by day:

've taken my shot at this tournament!

xoxo from Chisinau ;)

A Knight or a Queen?

     The tournament has finished for me.
     I made a draw today. It's such a pity I didn't even get a chance to play- she found each and every only moves. I guess I should have played some other variation... Well, but after all, who could have known? I am happy with my result- 5p out of 8, with 3 wins, 1 loss and 4 draws. It's the first tournament in the last half year when I raise my Elo. I've made another IM norm here- I already have 4 of them, but I still haven't got 2400 Elo in order to receive the title.
     Here you can see my today's game:

     I had a very nice game yesterday, against Nana Dzagnidze. I think that it's one of the best games I have ever played! Here it is:

    As about our today's match with the USA- the girls are still playing and their positions looked nice the last time I've checked. I hope we'll win the match :)

My lucky ritual in this tournament- listening to my Ipod before the games

     Back to watch the games!

xoxo from Astana ;)

"The most peaceful team"

     Yet another 2-2... We fully deserve the nickname we've got in this tournament "The most peaceful team"- 2 losses and 5 draws out of 7 matches. What to say? We hoped to win today- but we were lucky to make an equal match- we had chances only to lose.
     I had an uneventful game- despite my big time advantage- I had to settle for a draw. I think I shouldn't have sacrificed the pawn...

     We wore the "Romania" t-shirts today, but it seems that nothing is enough in this tournament for us to win a match...

Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky vs Natacha Benmesbah

Collas Silvia vs Luminita Cosma

Gergely Szabo, Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky,me, Luminita Cosma and Cristina Foisor

Cristina Foisor,me,Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky and Luminita Cosma

     We play against Georgia tomorrow- again a difficult match.

Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Round 6 in Astana

     The match has begun! I am sorry that I couldn't start the live chat earlier, as the internet went down in the whole hotel, due to the weather problems.
     Here are some photos I took at the beginning of the round:

Let's take a coffee!

Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky, Gergely Szabo and Alina l'Ami

Sweets and beverages in the relaxation room

Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky

Alina l'Ami

Luminita Cosma

Romania vs China

The playing hall

Tan Zhangyi- Luminita Cosma- draw

Shen Yang- Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky-draw

Zhukova Natalia vs Benmesbah Natacha

The Women's World Chess Champion- Anna Ushenina

Bela Khotenashvili vs Alexandra Kosteniuk

Salome Melia vs Olga Girya

Russia vs Georgia

Luminita Cosma vs Tan Zhongyi

Natacha Benmesbah of France

Shen Yang vs Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky

 Kaya Emel vs Davletbayeva Madina

Kubra Ozturk vs Dauletova Gulmira

Gulishkan Nakhbayeva- 1st board of  the Kazakhstan's team

Alina l'Ami vs Guo Qi ( the World Girls U20 Champion)

Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine

Katerina Lahno vs Nino Maisuradze

Alisa Galliamova vs Lela Javakishvili

Valentina Gunina vs Nana Dzagnidze

India vs USA

Russia vs Georgia

Our charming official photographer- Anastasiya Karlovich

Here's the hall where one can watch the live games

... on this screen

      I went to the "Hanshatyr" comercial center afterwards- it's about 20 minutes to walk from our hotel. I passed through the "Alley of restaurants":

"Tre Kronor"- a Swedish restaurant

A Korean restaurant

Not sure, but I think it's a Turkish restaurant

And there's my destination...

Want to have a seat? :))

 It's got a very interesting arhitecture! You can judge by yourself:

     I had to walk by myself through the snowstorm- it wasn't either pleasant  or very warming- but what one doesn't do in order to satisfy his curiosity! All the efforts were more than worth it- I have never seen such a mall in my life!

A special carrousel that takes one to the very top of the mall

It seemed a bit scary to go there by myself, so I preferred to be a simple spectator

There was some kind of a little car that was spinning around the mall- I had a really nice ride!

     Two games have already finished- Carmen and Luminita made draws. Alina and Cristina are still playing. Let's watch the games and hope for better!

xoxo from Astana