Cheating and Ego Matters

     While studying hard for my final exams and having no time to throw away at all, I simply couldn't help myself expressing my deepest disgust about the situation where a few WGM's, ex World and European Champions and strong GMs amongst them, accused my colleague from the National Team- WGM Mihaela Sandu for cheating.

WGM Mihaela Sandu

     We have been colleagues and also opponents for quite a few years so far and I find this accusations very disturbing, not only for Mihaela herself, but for the chess community as well. She is a very dedicated player who loves playing and teaching chess. All the games we played against each other were very combative and fought until the last drop of blood. I have a high respect and consideration for Mihaela's chess.
     I understand that losing to a lower rated opponent can be quite frustrating, but I don't understand the need of being so paranoid and unprofessional. I find this whole situation simply outrageous and I want to point out that chess is not war and not all the means that can be used to win are ok. I used to think that professional chess players are very intelligent and highly sensible persons and as sportsmen they all demonstrate a high level of fair play. Well, I guess I couldn't be more wrong.
     I understand that we all want our rights to be respected, then why not respect the rights of others? I can understand the accusations made though I could never agree with them. I understand that with so many cheating cases around, one might get paranoid. What I don't understand is:

1. On what grounds could someone who didn't even get the chance to play against Mihaela accuse her?

2. Why the arbiter to whom the accusations were presented after the game finished didn't check Mihaela immediately in order to clarify the situation and avoid all this fuzz?

3. Why the organizers, after thoroughly having analyzed the situation and having come to the conclusion that there were no proof of any kind and the player was wrongly accused didn't take out those shameful signed letters from the walls of the playing hall? Why didn't they publicly apologize to Mihaela?

4. Why the organizers didn't give a warning to the player who clearly took advantage of this situation in order to put pressure on Mihaela before their game?


     Maybe some of you would think of this words to be somewhat harsh, but how do you think Mihaela felt with all this false accusations? How should I feel now as a professional chess player? Should I be afraid to play good chess and to win against stronger opponents? Does it mean that in 10 years I will be cataloged as an expired chess player who doesn't have the right to play strong? What is with all this nonsense?
     I am very disappointed that such kind of situations can happen nowadays and I hope that conclusions will be drawn and measures will be taken so that such unfair and abusing behavior would never happen again!

     Mihaela, all your friends and colleagues are with you, cheering for you and my admiration for your fighting spirit has only grown! Keep up the good work and I cross my fingers for you to keep offending those high egos!

Soul Food

     We all have good days and bad days but if you're having the latter- I highly recommend you to spend a day in a Botanical Garden!
     My day turned to be very nice despite the shady start. I had a very lovely afternoon walking down the beautiful alleys and admiring the inspiring nature. I don't know a better way of clearing my head then just walking, discovering beautiful gardens and thinking about anything but daily problems :)

     Here are some photos from my yesterday's walk, one which has reminded me that we are happy as long as we choose to be!

     Nature is beautiful! I hope you can try to remind yourself of this from time to time!


xoxo from Iasi

Faulty Note

     Each of us has his qualities, the sides of him he wants the World to see and to approve. Well, this post isn't about them, it's about our negative sides, the ones we try to hide from others and which we're very well aware- will make others judgmental.
     Though one knows his bad sides and he may work on making them disappear, I think it's not possible to achieve it without accepting and embracing them. I can't change all the things I don't like about myself, but I've learned not to be embarrassed of them.
      I show the side of me I like the least to the person I like the most because I want him to learn that I'm not ideal, nor I want to look like one. The best feeling I get  is when someone loves me for my defects, not for my qualities. I believe my bad sides are very much a part of me and it's a serious mistake to hide them from the ones I hold dear to.
     They may say "I've never expected THIS from YOU!". Well, I'm not ideal and it's my worst nightmare becoming so. I've embraced the things I dislike about myself and while I try to change some of them, the others I just love and I want them to stay this way, because they make others give me the higher quoted sentence and when I hear it, I just know that he is just too shallow or messed up in order to admit that neither people nor life is ideal.
     I don't want to have in my life people who think I'm faultless, I want the ones who love the things I like the least about myself!


     Now tell me, do you hide your defects from the ones you care the most?



xoxo from Iasi :)

Adrenaline Addict

     You make the 1st move, write it down with a trembling hand,waiting for your opponent's answer...

      I don't know for how many of you this feeling is familiar. I hope that it's not just me who has a fantastic adrenaline rush each time I play a game which I really want to win. Though I'm a quite calm person, the adrenaline pumping in my blood and making me shiver during a game isn't a thing I can control.
      This led me to the thought that I might be addicted to adrenaline. One might ask me if only playing chess gives me this rushes. Actually-no. I like driving on highways with 180 km/h with rock beats vibrating in the car. That's the main reason I don't want to get a driving license, don't want to call my friends and family asking them to stay home when I'm on the road :P
     So far, chess is the least dangerous way of getting adrenaline... Does it mean that I'm addicted? Might be true, though if it means playing chess all my life, doing the thing I love the most, it shouldn't be that bad, right?



xoxo from Iasi ;)

myself.MD

Orheiul Vechi

     There's a small country called Moldova which happens to be my homeland.
     Being a chess player, I've traveled a lot, have seen many interesting places all around the World. It's not only about discovering new cultures, it's also about finding new "my selves ".
     It's not a thing to brag with, but I've never visited the cultural sites of the country I come from. That's why I decided, having a few free days, to fill this gap.
     The famous natural, archeological and turistic complex "Orheiul Vechi" was the first one on my list. The place has a very interesting history which dates from as early as the 10th century BC. You can find out more about this here: http://orheiulvechi.com/ Another interesting thing about this place are the cave monasteries- places of cult from the early stages of Christianity. You can spot them in the next photo:

Cave Monasteries

     Here are a few more photos with views from a traditional Moldavian village.

Martins nests

Traditional Moldavian house

     Next to follow was the beautiful "Curchi Monastery". This place induced me into such a peaceful state that I thought that it would be great to retreat there for a week or two with a suitcase full of books!
    

     Though living in Romania, it is a great pleasure for me to return from time to time to Moldova and to remember where my roots come from!


xoxo from Chisinau ;)

Dinero to Monsieur

Life can be quite curious                                                                 
Even close to mysterious.
A short subjective story,
No acquaintance's aleatory,
No mans knowledge's mandatory.

Fate or not
Cut a knot.
Met a guy,
Laughing sky...

Showed some proof
Under a lasting roof
That a "professeur
Avec un monsieur"
Pulling spoofs
Laugh at us, goofs.

"Nada dinero" to "monsieur",
No mark from "professeur".
"Dinero" to "monsieur"
"A" mark from "professeur".

Diploma's on the scope
Klutzes high hope.
"Dinero"to "monsiuer"
And him to "professeur".

The goofs stay goofs,
"Dinero" with "monsieur"
Excelling  "professeur".
Diploma and a robe
Student fulfills his high hope.



xoxo from Iasi ;)

Holding a draw

     The first mini-matches of the Women's World Chess Championship are coming to an end. It is the tie break day today, with 11(!) matches to be disputed.
     I was following closely the games, enjoying the commentaries of GM Miroshnichenko and GM Rogozenco. I must say that the organization seems to be really nice, many interviews, video translation, live commentary in both Russian and English... Every day I can't wait for the morning to pass faster :D (no exception today).

WGM Marrero Lopez Yaniet vs GM Elina Danielian

     As I had expected, there were a lot of interesting games and also some surprises. My feeling is that the biggest upsets of the first mini-match were: GM Elina Danielian (2488) knocked out by the Cuban WGM Yaniet Marrero Lopez (2322) and GM and ex European Champion Hoang Than Trang (2475) knocked out by GM Arakhamia Grant Ketevan (2379). Women's chess can be particularly unpredictable and it is vital to be at your best from the very beginning, as the distance is very short and one wrong move can be crucial.
     There were a lot of games worth mentioning but I will stop on the one of IM Mariya Muzychuk (2526) vs WIM Yuan Yuanling (2257), where Mariya managed to win the second game in order to even the score and continue the fight in the tie-break. I think it is quite representative.

White to move

     As we can see, a typical Dutch Defense structure is on the board, though the 3...g6 might be already inaccurate, which Mariya has successfully proven in the game. 3...d6 or 3... e6 were the alternatives. Another interesting fact is that Mariya herself likes to play Dutch from time to time, so, maybe the opening choice wasn't so inspired from this point of view as well...
     4.h4- Bg7 5.h5- Nxh5 6.e4!
    

Black to move

     This is the most principled way to make use of 3...g6.  It seems to me that black is already in big trouble. The opening battle is clearly lost by black.
     6...fxe4 7. Rxh5- gxh5 8. Qxh5- Kf8 9. Bh6- e6 10. Nxe4- Qe7 11.Bxg7- Kxg7 12.000-d6 13.Rd3

Black to move

IM Mariya Muzychuk

     Black's position is already hopeless due to the lack of development and the too exposed king.
     The game ended a few moves later with white claiming a win.

     The game looks very convincing and one may wonder why I've chosen it to analyze. The answer
is simple. It is very difficult from the psychological point of view to stay calm and just play chess
after you've lost the first game in the match and you must win the 2nd one. On the other hand, this game proves that it is also a challenge to stay calm after a win in the 1st game. As a friend told me- this kind of KO championships are about the ability to make a draw.

     Follow the games and the commentaries on the official site of the event: http://sochi2015.fide.com
(photos taken from: http://sochi2015.fide.com/component/content/article/132-photo-gallery?lang=ru )

     May the best one win!


xoxo from Iasi ;)