Warm Bundes Evenings

     Here I am, back to Romania, after yet another very nice days spent in Germany, at Bundesliga.
     I have already played for 5 years in the German Club Championship and somehow I associate the cold part of the year with warm evenings spent with my team.

From right to left: Ekaterina Atalik, Karina Ambartsumova, Deimante Daulyte, Nino Batsiashvili, Alina Kashlinskaya and me

     I have always dreamed to be a part of a team where everyone's friends and no one puts a smile on her face secretly hoping you'd lose. Yes, that's the sad thing about many women (can't say about men) teams. I don't know about others, but I am quite emotional during tournaments, during most of the tournaments, Bundesliga is an exception. I am so calm and just happy to be there that I never ever get adrenaline rushes :)) I just enjoy my chess and get pleasure from simply playing my games.
     I know that no matter of the result, a very nice evening will follow with  the super optimistic Karina always making jokes, with Deimante laughing so enchanting that you can't help laughing yourself as well, with Alina's existential questions which eventually end up with another hard laughing, with "the machine's"- Nino's tired faces which usually provoke another joke from Karina and the evening wouldn't be complete without the very elegant Katya whose outfits are a pleasure for any eyes.
     Our team has of course many more strong and beautiful players, though this is the formula of the matches I usually get to play.
     Jokes, laughing, tasty dinners and wine- perfect team spirit and the formula of our good results!
     Enjoy some photos from this weekend made by Thomas Marschner:

A proper motivational talk, from left to right: Alina Kashlinskaya, Ekaterina Atalik, me and Nino Batsiashvili

The first match won by us, with me drawing vs Zoya Schleining

A totally wild game where I sacrificed 4 pawns vs Ketino Kachiani-Gersinska (Baden Baden team) and somehow managed to win. The match ended in our favour!

The last game which I won vs Manuela Mader with our team winning as well!

If you thought we're all watching some chess, you're wrong- it's Alina's wedding photos!

     I am very happy to be a part of the "Schwäbisch Hall" team and I'm looking forward for more warm evenings like the ones I always have at Bundesliga!



xoxo from Romania ;)

Reykjavik Lights

From left to right: Mihaela Sandu,Victor Bologan, me and Luminita Cosma

     A bit more than a week has passed since I came back from the European Team Chess Championship in Reykjavik, Iceland. I have to confess that it felt more like a month :))) I will tell you why a bit later. Let's get back to the Europeans first.
     Our result as a team was not so bad- 10th place, we've completed our minimal goal, though after the first half of the tournament our hopes aimed much higher... I started with 3/4 and it should have been even 4/4 if to look at the positions I got, the team was also doing very well sharing the 3rd place. The problems started after we lost the match to Ukraine in the 5th round. Somehow none of us could pull herself together to play the chess we played at the beginning of the tournament...

     All in all, it was an interesting experience- visiting Iceland, though- frankly speaking, I didn't have much time to enjoy its sites. It was too cold for long walks and too expensive for cabs :)) The thing I liked the most was the fantastic quality of still water and the closing ceremony, which was fun and very well organized. Hm... Yes, besides that- Iceland has left me with a somewhat bitter taste.


     The Romanian Rapid and Blitz Championships followed shortly after our return from Reykjavik. The host was the beautiful city I've never been to before- Cluj. I really enjoyed taking walks through the old center, admiring its beauty and lively people. The tournaments were neither bad nor good for me, a silver medal at rapid and a bronze one at blitz. Both of them were really close to being gold, but an a bit odd coefficient wasn't on my side at rapid and a lost game in the 8th round took the 1st place away from me at blitz.
     That's the way November came and passed for me and I can hardly believe that it's already December and Christmas is just around the corner... One more tournament awaits for me this year- an open in Austria and then... God knows :)))
     Here are some photos from the Rapid & Blitz in Cluj (courtesy to https://www.facebook.com/young.chess.7?fref=ts) :

Playing vs WGM Irina Ionescu

Always tough games vs IM Corina Peptan

From left to right- IM Corina Peptan, me and WGM Irina Ionescu

   
      Two more medals were added to my collection and a busy December has started!



xoxo from Romania ;)
     

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!

Tricky Sun Rays

     The cold autumn days have come and there's of course no "better" place to be now than at seaside :))

While the sun was still here...

     Mamaia is the host of the Romanian League and it decided to be not so friendly this time, though it welcomed us with some tricky sun rays. The weather reminds me now of some terrible nightmares where I try to walk but no matter how hard I try, I remain in the same place. It is very, very windy and cloudy and frankly speaking, my mood is somewhere at the "stay all day in the bed" mode.
     Still, the tournament is as usually  very interesting with lots of tension and many great fights. I guess there's not much left to be done in Mamaia but preparing for the games and trying to show your best.
     I enjoy going from one tournament to another. Poland was a great experience and I am pretty satisfied with the 4th place I got there. Mamaia has been good for me as well so far... Between coughing and drinking one tea after another I've managed to score 4,5p/5.
     Our team is going well so far, there are two more matches left for us and  we are leading. The hope is that we can keep it this way until the end.
     You can follow some live games here: http://sahlive.ro/ , while the results are on: http://chess-results.com/tnr189236.aspx?lan=1
     As for me, there are no more tournaments left until the European Team Chess Championship, which will take place in Iceland, in November, though I might have some ideas on what I could spend my time on until then... Maybe you will find out more about it soon on my blog! ;)
     
    

I wish you all a great weekend and a few sun rays!


xoxo from Mamaia :)

Masters in Poland

     After a more or less agitated summer, with many tournaments played in a raw, the time has come for a "serious" chess exam.
     I am heading to a strong ladies tournament in Wroclaw, Poland. It will be very interesting for me to play against some of the strongest WGMs in Europe. As I missed the EIWCC this year, it will be refreshing to compete in a women's event. They all say women's chess is different from men's chess and it is a viable point of view, though I don't necessarily agree with it. Maybe we are somewhat more competitive and maybe short draws don't occur that often in our games, maybe we play a more romantic chess, but I believe that the strongest women players can compete on a very high level with men as well.
     All in all, I hope to have a good tournament and to play some quality chess! You can follow the results and the news of the event on its official webpage: http://wgmradzikowska.pl/?page_id=1242#
     I hope to be in good spirits for sharing impressions from there as well :)
  


P.S.  Hou Yifan's play from the World Cup in Baku can only inspire women to work more on chess and to have more confidence that everything is possible!



xoxo with high hopes :)

From Dracula to Emirates Palaces

     It's been a very interesting month, with lots of new impressions.
     It is a well known fact that the country where you live is actually the one you've visited the least. That's why I decided to visit the Romanian site which attracts the most foreign tourists- "Dracula's (Bran) Castle". When I got there, I had the feeling that I'm somewhere abroad, all the people around were speaking all kind of languages but Romanian. It was very funny- feeling a stranger in my own country :))
     The thing I liked the most about the castle was its location, which granted lots of fantastic views. The so called "Torture Room" was also interesting, though it left me with a strange feeling of insecurity...

Bran Castle

 

     A "little" change of scenery followed. I have arrived to Abu Dhabi a few days later, checked in at a luxury hotel and tried to adapt to the 30 degrees temperature difference. The adaptation process is still on go, while 6 rounds of the tournament have already passed. The last game I played was a marathon one, with 150 moves- it finished at about 11.45 pm and frankly, I was so exhausted and disappointed that the fact that I missed dinner did not matter at all (though, poor arbiters...).

6th round marathon game vs GM Aleksandr Rakhmanov

     It is my first time in UAE and I am overwhelmed by such a different culture. I have met very friendly people, I have met some who wouldn't shake hands with a woman, I have seen strict dress codes and emancipated women as well...  The buildings here are from the "hallucination" category, I've never seen such luxury in my life... Fantastic Malls rising from the middle of the desert is just a usual thing here... Anyhow, it seems to be a very different and a not so easy to fit in culture, especially for Europeans, even though  there's a fantastic mix of nations here.



    All in all, I am grateful for this new experience and I hope for some good chess for the last 3 rounds!
    

    xoxo from Abu Dhabi ;)

Lazy Reflections

     Back to posting!
     I am back to modern life after about one and a half month without a computer. Yeah... that's another side of a chess players' life- changing computers more often than haircuts :)))
     Many, many things have happened since my last post. I can definitely say that the month I stayed in France was not bad at all, what can be bad in France? Wines? No way! Evenings, Alps, La Manche? Naaay! My chess? Well, more or less... One bad tournament, another- not so good and a fabulous one (maybe the best in my life). It's difficult to judge if there was a balance or not.
     Coming back to Romania and adjusting to the super hot August days was the most difficult part. The Open I played in Arad has simply drained my body and brain. (Note for the next summer: check if the playing halls have air conditioning before deciding to play anywhere).
     I am on my last days of vacation before my next tournament, the Abu Dhabi Open. I've never been to Emirates before and I am curious about what it's gonna' be like. I don't have so many expectations from myself from the "chess" point of view. I've learned that it's better to be calm and just play your chess, expectations are not good, you can never know what plans does Fortuna have for you.
     While taking a deep breath of salty, "freshly-after rain" air I admire the predictable (?!) sea and I try not to think about tomorrow. There's the rhythmical sound of waves, the staggering height of the terrace I'm housing my thoughts on, there's nothing to remind me that there might be a tomorrow...


xoxo from a lazy evening ;)