Grand Sweden

     Hello my dear readers!
     I've been relaxing the last few days, not even opening my computer. It's been soooo good to go to the beach and not worry about anything but my tan :D
     My session at the University was so exhausting- I needed some refuel and I definitely got it.
     I spent some quality time with my family and my friends in Golden Sands and I enjoyed the unusual role of being just a spectator of the "Golden Sands Grand Europe Open".

With my dear sister- Elena

With my good friend- Diana Baciu

Elena and me

Olga Hincu, Diana Baciu, Irene Sukandar, Elena Bulmaga, Ioana Gelip and me (from left to right)  trying the chilly water

     Nils Grandelius of Sweden won the tournament with a 7,5p/9, 2706 performance and a very nice +17,5 Elo points! If he couldn't take the Bulgarian hot weather with him in Sweden- he definitely compensated it with some nice amount of cash- 6000 euros! How much sun can he buy with it, what do you think?

     Here's my photo report from there:

Nils Grandelius- the winner of the tournament

Dragan Solak-6th place with 6,5p

Vladislav Nevednichy- 3rd place with 7p

Mircea Parligras

Alin Berescu

Dmitrii Svetushkin

Natalia Pogonina-2nd woman prize with 5,5p

Axel Rombaldoni

Tiberiu Georgescu

Nisha Mohota

Bogdan Posedaru

Irina Ionescu

Irene Sukandar

Angela Dragomirescu

Maria Velcheva

Zura Javakhadze

Levente Vajda

Zbynek Hracek- 2nd place with 7p

     The playing hall was really impressive- it was provided by one of the best 5 stars hotel and casino in Golden Sands. The organizers did a very good job and I think that it was one of the strongest and with the highest prizes Open that one could find in June in Europe!

     

     As about me, I really enjoyed my short holliday and I'm going to prepare for my next tournaments in the following week- Turkish League, Universiade, EIWCC... I hope to have a great summer and to show some serious results!

Wish you all an amazing summer! 

Will keep you posted ;)

Grand Europe Open Albena

     This week has been a very busy one- with a lot of exams and pretty much worrying. I didn't have much time neither for chess nor for posting. I am really happy that I've survived until the weekend! :)))
     So, let's go directly to news ;)
     I've got my ticket for the Turkish League, which will start on the 1st of July. It's going to be my next tournament. Despite all the unstable situation in Istanbul, it seems that chess isn't affected. I haven't played for like 2 weeks and it already feels like an eternity! Can't wait for the 1st July to come quicker!
     The "Grand Europe Open- Albena" is coming to an end. The 8th round will be disputed today. There are 3 players with 6p/7 leading: Vladislav Nevednichy, Hrant Melkumyan and Tigran Petrosian and another 6 players with 5,5p/7 :  Boris Chatalbashev, Krikor Mekhitarian, Levente Vajda, Mircea Parligras, Evgeny Sveshnikov and Vitaliy Bernadskiy.
     You can see the pairings for today's 8th round here:

1	8	GM	Nevednichy Vladislav	2580	6		6	GM	Melkumyan Hrant	2635	3
2	2	GM	Petrosian Tigran L.	2649	6		5½	GM	Chatalbashev Boris	2560	13
3	15	GM	Mekhitarian Krikor Sevag	2544	5½		5½	GM	Vajda Levente	2617	4
4	10	GM	Parligras Mircea-Emilian	2565	5½		5½	GM	Sveshnikov Evgeny	2512	17
5	5	GM	Grigoryan Avetik	2605	5		5½	IM	Bernadskiy Vitaliy	2475	23
6	25	IM	Ashwin Jayaram	2472	5		5	GM	Solak Dragan	2598	7
7	33	IM	Javakhadze Zurab	2450	5		5	GM	Nabaty Tamir	2579	9
8	45	FM	Anurag Mhamal	2401	5		5	GM	Spasov Vasil	2565	12
9	57	WGM	Sukandar Irine Kharisma	2364	5		5	GM	Mareco Sandro	2557	14
10	24	IM	Enchev Ivajlo	2473	5		5	IM	Erturan Yakup	2374	55
11	39	IM	Molina Roberto Junio Brito	2423	4½		4½	GM	Lupulescu Constantin	2655	1

     My friend (and room-mate in Thailand)- Irene Sukandar is having a very good tournament, with a 2486 performance and a +23 Elo points.

     Another "long not seen" friend- Diana Baciu, who hasn't played for almost a year has a 2457 Performance and a +26 Elo points!

     It is an interesting phenomenon- it's not the first time when I notice a player who hasn't played for a very long time and he makes incredible performances when he starts to play again. I wonder what is it about? Maybe I should take a year break from chess in order to become a 2500+ GM?! :D

     Another player who surprises with his very good recent results is Vladislav Nevednichy, who's leading the tournament with a 2757 Performance and a +14 Elo points.

     "The Wolf" is having not such a good tournament, with only 4,5 points, being the 1st rating favourite. I guess that the European's Individual has been a too tough event that needed a longer recovery.

     Here are some photos I've found on the facebook page of the Bulgarian Federation:

The Trophy waiting for it's winner

     I wish everyone the best of luck and may the strongest win!

Thailand

     Thailand... I don't have enough words to describe how much I like it! You can judge by yourself- here are some pictures:

Pattaya City

Our hotel's inside garden

Local traffic

Irene Sukandar, my roommate :)

Dusit Thani Resort- the place we're staying at

     The tournaments starts today, at 3.30 pm local time. I hope to play as good as I feel here :D

xoxo from Pattaya ;)


   

The chilli experience

     There've been some very interesting 36 hours!
     I am writting from Pattaya- a nice resort in Thailand, but the story begins in Bucharest.
     I am in Thailand for a chess tournament-the 13th BCC Open- you can see the official site of the event here: http://bangkokchess.com/events-calendar/13th-bcc-open-2013  I decided to visit London on my way there- a quite weird decision if to think that it was on the opposite direction with my destination :))), but I definitely don't regret it. I had an amazing day in London- went for a ride on the London Eye, walked around through the rain- yeah, raining in London-what a surprise!

Enjoying a ride on the London Eye

      All in all, I had a really nice time in London! I went back to the airport afterwards and slept during my whole 11 hours flight to Bangkok :))) I didn't even feel how all that time passed!

      Arriving in Bangkok, I was very worried about the "visa procedure", but it turned out to be just a formality- so I easily passed the passport control (btw, the woman who put a stamp in my passport was wearing a Hawaian shirt :)))) and went for my bus to Pattaya. It took me about 2 hours to get to the hotel, where I was welcomed by the organizer- Mr. Kai Tuorila. I was shocked when I saw the hotel- there's a garden in the lobby- a huuuge one and the room is really nice. There were all kind of unusual fruits waiting for me there; yes "were" is the right word, because I've already eaten all of them :)))

      I went with some local friends of my roommate-Irene Sukandar- for diner in the city and I had "the chilli experience". I was eating some rice with all kinds of sea food- being really proud of myself (everyone was wondering how I-an European- can eat such a spicy food) until I tried a soup- it tasted really nice- the problem came when I tasted a green thing that turned out to be chilli- I literally started to cry, my tears seemed unstoppable and I thought that my brain will be blown away :)))) I somehow survived and I hope that "the chilli experience" will be the only thing to cry about during my stay in Thailand!

     Some photos from Pattaya will follow the next days, until then- here you can see the starting list of players: http://chess-results.com/tnr94564.aspx?lan=1

   

     Gone for some more fruits :)))

xoxo from Thailand ;)