Pixelated

     What happens when your dreams come true?

     That's a question I've been asking myself lately, as the things I used to say "how fine would it be if..." seem to become real after forgetting I even said them. I guess it's just an usual way of
progressing, though I think that one should take a moment of reflection on these things every now and then. You may consider yourself unlucky or beaten by fate, but maybe it's just your dreams that were too small or thought too abstract.
     There are a lot of things I dream about, but there are not so many moments when I visualize them coming to reality. This is a reason why I like jogging so much- the more- the better. That's the time when I get alone with my thoughts, hopes, dreams, fears and plans. Kilometer after kilometer the image gets more and more pixelated. A 10 km jog is the best way of figuring out what to do next for me...
     As for now, Cappelle la Grande is next :) My last tournament was the "Groningen Open", in December, so France will play the role of the season-opener (hopefully a good one!).


     Stay tuned for news and impressions from Cappelle!



xoxo from Snagov ;)

Want a piece?

     As I'm done with my first exam and my session at Uni is officially opened, have thought of some nice way to relax and to take my thoughts from studying all kind of Management stuff. I think you've guessed what came across my mind- chess!
     Here's a game which I particularly like from my latest tournament in Groningen:

Black to move

  
      This position came from a Caro-Kann, me being black vs Hulshof Peter (2178). The position is looking very comfortable for black, with such a great knight on "a4", though, if black is not to take some immediate actions, white might play Rd4, with the obvious idea of getting rid of my knight, which would leave me with pretty much nothing.
      In this moment, I got the idea of exploding the position with a piece sacrifice! It is not winning, but I couldn't bare such a big temptation! 20... f6! 21. Rd4, and now...
   

Black to move

     21...Nxc3 might have been more precise, but 21...Nxb2 proved to work as well. 22.Qxb2- fxe5 23. Rdd1- Rxf2. My opponent failed to find the best defense, which was 23.Rg4- with an unclear position.

White to move

     White's position is already lost, despite the extra piece, black has complete domination. 24.Kh1- Be4 25. Rg1- Qe3 26. Rd2- Rcf8

White to move

     Black threats 27... Bxg2 28.Rxg2- Rf1+ with mate, white doesn't have any good enough defense, so he played 27. Bf3 and after R8xf3 white resigned.
     I really like playing attacking chess and being given the opportunity to make an interesting sacrifice, I usually don't think twice :D


     Wish you all a nice week, without too much calculation!


xoxo from Iasi ;)

Redhead in Groningen

     Half of the tournament has already passed. Yeah, that's how I'll start this post, no mention of any celebration- still too early for that.

     I have 2,5p/4 with 3 draws and a win- 3 draws!!! I normally make them in 3-4 tournaments :))) Have never ever been such a solid player before! :D Don't think that I didn't try to win- I played 100 moves in the 1st game and 135 in the 2nd one ('ve discovered that the Queen+Knight vs Queen endgame is a dead draw, but not before tormenting my opponent and myself for 50 moves).
     Well, now- getting to the interesting part...
     I had a fantastic experience the other evening! The tournament director invited us to a special event- an evening dedicated to the French composer- Eric Satie. There was live piano music, there was fantastic singing and a mute movie that impressed me a lot and made me regret that I am such a rare bird in the artistic entourage.
     And here comes the Christmas part...
     It is my first Christmas away from home and I don't really feel its spirit. I've always associated it with home, with too much tasty food, lots of presents and too many family members :D
     We had a different celebration of Christmas this year- with chess players, blitz, jokes, fun, going out and fun again :) Can't tell which one I liked more- both have their own charm :P

     All these being said, have a nice Christmas and if you don't- never mind- it's just a day in the calendar!

Ioana Gelip and Vlad Stegariu

With Alex Stegariu

xoxo from the redhead in Groningen

A taste of NL

     There've been no posts lately and, judging by the increasing number of views- everyone was curious about what was going on.
     Well, the beginning of December was too intense- I had many problems to solve and I simply had no mood and no physical or psychological strength to distract on anything else. The conclusion I've drawn out of all this stuff is never to put anyone's interest above yours. People leave, but the sacrifices you've made for them stay with you.
     All in all, I am happy that everything's behind and I have no concerns but how to have a good time until next year ;)
     My friends and I are in Groningen now, playing a tournament here. The city has proved to be very nice so far. We had a really nice walk through the center yesterday! Our hotel is quite far from everything and there's an about 4 km walk to the center. We were lucky to ask the direction we should go a guy in a car and he dropped us in the center :D People in this city seem to be very friendly and I have the feeling that we'll have a very good time here.
     As about the tournament itself- it is organized nicely and the only thing left is to play some good chess :) You can find the results and the pairings here: http://www.schaakstadgroningen.nl/festival/14/A/
     Here are some photos:

With Ioana Gelip

With Ioana Gelip and Alex Stegariu

xoxo from Groningen ;)