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| Photo by Maria Emelianova (my edit) |
Woke up to a good mood and some bad weather. “Four
rounds today- would be nice to start with a win!”. All the non chess thoughts
were forgotten.
Won the first game in style, slowly outplaying my
opponent in an equal endgame. Won the 2nd game with some uninspired
attack which proved to be good enough... The 3rd game was a roller
coaster- had a terrible position, but a lot of time, which in the end turned to
be the decisive factor- 3/3. In the 4th game I used an old but
mighty weapon, my opponent had a hard time in the opening, went for a slightly
worse endgame which I slowly but steadily won- 4/4.
I could not even imagine such a good start! It wasn’t
only about the result itself, but about the overall quality of the games as
well. I made no blunders, my brain would produce plans quickly, I was very
inspired in my opening choices... Those were all good signs.
A dinner at a nice Georgian restaurant followed.
“Tomorrow will be more difficult...”.
The next morning, scrolling through the news I was
reading “Irina Bulmaga of Romania in the lead with a perfect score...” Some
supportive messages started to come as well- most of them written in a very patriotic
style- “Hai Irina! Hai Romania!”.
The 2nd day was more difficult indeed.
Made a draw in the 5th round after playing very
well with the black pieces. Outplayed my opponent but ran quite low on time and
let it slip. Made a move with just one second on the clock, nearly had a heart
attack when realising it, but managed to simplify everything and draw.
When looking at the pairings of the 6th round,
saw ‘Koneru’ next to my name. “What do you think?”, my roommate asked. “Pff, Petroff...”
While sitting at the board I contemplated the possibilities... “You can start
the game now!”, the arbiter said bringing me back to reality- 1.e4- e5. “F***
everyone!" was the motto of my coming to Moscow, right? – 2.d4. Got a winning
position after barely making 10 moves and went on to convert it successfully.
I won against the number 3 in the World, and as it
would turn out later, the future Champion...
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| Photo by Maria Emelianova (edited by myself) |
What a dream it would be to start competing against
all these top players fighting for the crown! I proved I can win against them
in rapid, in blitz… Will I get a chance to do so in classical chess?
Breathe Irina, breathe!
(To be continued)
