God, I miss Romania!

My trip to Reykjavik has started a few days ago with a stopover in the UK to visit family in a terrible, traditional English town.

Every time I come here, I think that living in this place would be impossible for me. Why? First, because in this lifetime I must fulfill my dream of living surrounded by magnificent concrete walls while breathing the crisp, life prolonging, factory infused air. I’m also worried of not being able to get enough of the occasional dog bite as a form of appreciation for being an exemplary neighbour, and of course- the best of it all- getting the daily dose of satisfaction while savouring the famous Bucharest traffic. Once you try it- you’re hooked for life. You start craving to see people crossing streets at unmarked places, you miss hearing the unequaled Romanian swearing! It embraces equally all the members of society! One can never feel discriminated here- no matter of the skin colour, age, sex orientation or gods they believe in.

In the UK, life is too plain. There’s a depressing lake surrounded by a natural reservation where I can never find the familiar litter lying inconspicuously behind bushes. There’s no charm in cycling here either. My natural talent of looking at the wrong side of the road whenever I try to ensure passage through a crossroad always fails to bring the much-desired result- they never swear at me! They just smile. Every time. It’s an abomination! Instead of the healthy dose of adrenaline rush I’m used to get, I have priority in passage for my whole lifetime and I don’t get to use neither my health nor life insurance. What a waste!

A castle where no one ever got impaled; two pubs where I never get the chance to complain about food quality… How do they entertain here? Neighbours with dogs that never bite; supermarkets with food supplied by local farmers… Don’t they know about importing from other continents? The only thing about the UK which makes me feel like at home is the trains. Delays, cancellations- finally something which is the way it’s supposed to be!

Thanks God I had to endure it only for 2 days! I leave the UK completely unsatisfied, and I worry things might continue in same fashion in Iceland too. Their air carrier didn’t charge me for choosing my seat and they even offered me to buy a 3 euro coffee! Do they think I don’t know that a good coffee can never cost less than 6 euros? And what is it with all this leg space?

God, I miss Romania!

P.S. To be taken with a grain of salt.

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 :)