Lucky Poland

     There are only 3 more rounds to go.

Some analyzing after the game with Robert Ruck

     I am on 50 % so far, gaining some 9 Elo points. It's quite good. I made a draw with Duda Jan-Krysztof (2506) yesterday, with white. I didn't get anything from the opening, forgetting my variations, so I started to play for a draw. He got into time-trouble and I had a nice chance- to sacrifice the queen and to get an almost winning position, but somehow- I didn't want to risk and settled for a draw. You can see the game here:


     The leadership of the tournament is kept by Moiseenko Alexander, with 7p/8, followed by Constantin Lupulescu- on sole second with 6,5p. They will play against each other today- "The Wolf" having white. It is funny that the only time a Romanian became European Champion- Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu, in 2005- the championship was also held in Poland. Maybe Poland is lucky for Romanians?
     Here are the pairings of all the Romanians:

9	1	54		GM	LUPULESCU Constantin	2634	6½		7	GM	MOISEENKO Alexander	2698		13
9	35	53		GM	L'AMI Erwin	2634	5		5	GM	PARLIGRAS Mircea-Emilian	2570		102
9	42	6		GM	AKOPIAN Vladimir	2705	4½		4½	GM	JIANU Vlad-Cristian	2555		112
9	64	109		GM	ESEN Baris	2557	4½		4½		DEAC Bogdan-Daniel	2183		259
9	66	21		GM	NISIPEANU Liviu-Dieter	2679	4		4	GM	AJRAPETJAN Yuriy	2498		148
9	76	128		GM	MAIOROV Nikita	2535	4		4	WGM	BULMAGA Irina	2393		199
9	78	133		GM	SEBENIK Matej	2527	4		4		STANCIU Alexandru-Ovidiu	2335		220
9	81	137		GM	BUKAVSHIN Ivan	2520	4		4	IM	PETRISOR Adrian-Marian	2378		211
9	83	258			MARJANOVIC Dejan	2186	4		4	IM	ARDELEAN George-Catalin	2510		142
9	109	243			SVANA Peter	2255	3		3	IM	ANTON Teodor	2441		175
9	112	260			HUBER Martin Christian	2176	3		3	IM	MANEA Alexandru	2389		201
9	130	277			TOMCZAK Mikolaj	2002	2½		2	FM	POSEDARU Bogdan	2339		219

     I have black against Maiorov Nikita (2535) today. I really hope to have a good game!
     It is interesting to notice the fantastic result of the 12 y.o. Romanian- Deac Bogdan-Daniel, who's got 4,5p/8 and a 2461 performance! I think he's the most promising Romanian junior. I see him at 2600 in some some 5 years.
     These being said, I'll go for the final 30 minutes of preparation. :)

xoxo from Legnica ;)

Resistance

     It is the 6th round today.

Me during the 3rd round

     I've got 2,5p out of 5 so far. It's quite good- I won against the lower rated opponents and lost against the higher rated ones- yesterday's game was an exception- I managed to make a draw against GM Gritsak Orest (2539) with black :) I suffered in an endgame with a pawn down, but I didn't want to lose at all and I guess that Caissa was on my side. You can see the game here:


     There are 2 players with 4,5p out of 5- Moiseenko Alexander and Shengelia David- they're playing against each other today.
      The  Romanian who's got the most of points is Constantin Lupulescu, with 4p out of 5. He's got a tough game today, playing against Grachev Boris.

6	7	54		GM	LUPULESCU Constantin	2634	4		4	GM	GRACHEV Boris	2687		19
6	29	102		GM	PARLIGRAS Mircea-Emilian	2570	3½		3½	GM	HRACEK Zbynek	2628		57
6	37	112		GM	JIANU Vlad-Cristian	2555	3		3	GM	NEPOMNIACHTCHI Ian	2710		4
6	39	126		GM	YILMAZ Mustafa	2537	3		3	GM	NISIPEANU Liviu-Dieter	2679		21
6	63	142		IM	ARDELEAN George-Catalin	2510	2½		2½	GM	CHEPARINOV Ivan	2700		12
6	81	199		WGM	BULMAGA Irina	2393	2½		2½	IM	PRIZANT Jaroslav	2537		127
6	82	201		IM	MANEA Alexandru	2389	2½		2½	GM	ZOLER Dan	2533		129
6	93	211		IM	PETRISOR Adrian-Marian	2378	2		2	IM	MATINIAN Nikita	2491		152
6	101	175		IM	ANTON Teodor	2441	2		2	IM	VUILLEUMIER Alexandre	2319		224
6	109	259			DEAC Bogdan-Daniel	2183	2		2	IM	ARNGRIMSSON Dagur	2390		200
6	122	271			ULANOWSKI Karol	2091	1½		1½		STANCIU Alexandru-Ovidiu	2335		220
6	129	219		FM	POSEDARU Bogdan	2339	1		1		POGOSIAN Vladimir	2132		267

     It is interesting to note that Efimenko Zahar dropped off the tournament with 1,5 p out of 5, after he suffered another loss yesterday. It is a very tough event for everyone and every half point is golden.
     There's the rule of no draws until the move 41 applied here, so it makes the games even more hard fought.
     I play against a Russian IM today- Prizant Jaroslav (2537). I have finally got white against a strong player and I hope to use it well.
     You can follow the live games on the official site of the event: http://en.eicc2013.pl/index.php/live where you can also find a nice photo and video gallery: http://en.eicc2013.pl/index.php/gm
     As about Legnica- the city is very enjoyable, with a lot of parks and nice streets to take walks. You can see some photos here:

Anna Warakomska, Katerina Pavlidou and me ( from right to left)

Katerina and Anna

Anna Iwanow, Anna Warakomska and Katerina Pavlidou

     There are only 2 more games until the free day and I hope to be in a good mood by that time :)

xoxo from Legnica ;)

Astana-Timisoara 2,5-1,5

   It's been an unfortunate day for our men's team, playing at the World Cities Championship. They lost the match against Astana with a 2,5-1,5 score, with Constantin Lupulescu making a draw against Kazhgaleyev Murtas (2596), Mircea Parligras winning against Jumabayev Rinat (2567) and Mihail Marin and Vladislav Nevednichy losing their games to Kotsur Pavel (2550) and respectively Ismagambetov Anuar (2463).
   Here are some photos from the opening ceremony I've found on the official site of the event http://worldcitieschess.com/photos/ :

Sergiu Grunberg, the captain of the Timisoara team

   Here's the group they're playing in :

Group 4
Baku (AZE) Astana (KAZ) Timisoara (ROM) Istanbul (TUR)

   It's a pity they lost today, but still, nothing is lost, they play against Istanbul tomorrow and I hope they'll manage to recover :) Maybe it was the big temperature difference, it's +25C in Al Ain, compared to the -10C in Romania. Whatever the reason was, I'm sure that it will get better tomorrow :)
   Here's Mircea's game:


   I wish good luck to our team and maybe they could send us some Arabian sun to us through their games! :)

World Cities Team Championship

   Today starts the World Cities Team Championship for the Sheikh Zayed Cup in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.It's scheduled to take place from 21-29 December. The championship has a knock-out format,with the overall prize fund of 150,000 $.

   The championship in UAE joins qualifiers from the World Team Championship, Continental Teams and 25 top zonal teams from the Istanbul Oplympiad. Teams will be grupped by rating in 8 groups of 4 teams each who will play a single round robin. The top 2 qualify into the knockout round of 16 followed by exciting Quarterfinal and Semifinal matches and a breathtaking Final show.
   Here are the qualified federations:

1	Olympiad Champion	Armenia
2	World Team Champion	Hungary - 5th (after Armenia, China, Ukraine, Russia)
3	European Champion	Germany
4	American Champion	Brazil
5	Asian Cities Champion	Kazakhstan - 2nd (after China)
6	African Champion	Egypt
7	Host Country	UAE
8	Zone 1.1	Netherlands - 6th
9	Zone 1.2	Slovenia - 25th
10	Zone 1.3	Sweden - 16th
11	Zone 1.4	Romania - 8th
12	Zone 1.5	Serbia - 14th
13	Zone 1.6	Russia
14	Zone 1.7	Latvia - 28th
15	Zone 1.8	Azerbaijan - 10th
16	Zone 1.9	Ukraine
17	Zone 2.1	United States Of America
18	Zone 2.2	Canada
19	Zone 2.3	Cuba - 11th
20	Zone 2.4	Peru - 55th
21	Zone 2.5	Argentina - 22nd
22	Zone 3.1	Iran - 61st
23	Zone 3.2	Bangladesh - 33rd
24	Zone 3.3	Vietnam - 7th
25	Zone 3.4	Uzbekistan - 24th
26	Zone 3.5	China
27	Zone 3.6	Australia - 32nd
28	Zone 3.7	India
29	Zone 4.1	Tunisia - 75th
30	Zone 4.2	Uganda - 90th (after Egypt)
31	Zone 4.3	South Africa - 62nd
32	New Zone 4.4	Nigeria - 96th

Romania's team has also qualified and it will be represented by the team of the city of Timisoara:

1 GM Lupulescu Constantin 2618 ROU 0.0

2 GM Parligras Mircea-Emilian 2628 ROU 0.0

3 GM Marin Mihail 2564 ROU 0.0

4 GM Nevednichy Vladislav 2545 ROU 0.0

5 GM Manolache Marius 2541 ROU 0.0

Here's the list of the registered teams I found on http://chess-results.com/tnr87210.aspx?art=32&lan=11:

1 Paris 2677
2 Hoogeveen 2666
3 Lviv 2659
4 Baku 2626
5 Saratov 2626
6 Novi Sad 2611
7 Ptuj 2594
8 London 2594
9 Timisoara 2589
10 Athens 2558
11 Chicago 2548
12 Astana 2544
13 Lund-Linkoping 2540
14 Riga 2528
15 Tehran 2499
16 Tashkent 2499
17 Cairo 2465
18 Manila 2448
19 Istanbul 2440
20 Dhaka 2437
21 Wu Xi 2391
22 Al Ain 2371
23 Chennai 2321
24 Kampala 2234
25 Canberra 2220

   The 4 categories of teams has been drawn yesterday:

1st Category			2nd Category
Paris (FRA)	2677		Novi Sad (SRB)	2611
Hoogeveen (NED)	2666		London (ENG)	2594
Lviv (UKR)	2659		Ptuj (SLO)	2594
Baku (AZE)	2626		Timisoara (ROM)	2589
Saratov (RUS)	2626		Athens (GRE)	2558
Alain (UAE)	2371		Chicago (USA)	2548

3rd Category			4th Category
Lund Linkoping (SWE)	2540		Istanbul (TUR)	2440
Riga (LTU)	2528		Dhaka (BAN)	2437
Astana (KAZ)	2520		Wu Xi (CHN)	2391
Tehran (IRI)	2499		Chennai (IND)	2321
Tashkent (UZB)	2499		Kampala (UGA)	2234
Cairo (EGY)	2465		Canberra (AUS)	2220

   A total of 150,000$ in cash prizes shall be awarded for the World Cities Championship for Sheikh Zayed Cup as follows:

• 16 eliminated from Round Robin Groups receive $2,500 each
• 8 qualifiers to Round of 16 receive $4,000 each
• 4 Quarterfinalists receive $5,000 each
• Fourth Place receives $10,000
• Third Place receives $12,000
• Second Place receives $15,000
• Champion receives $21,000

   I would like to wish good luck to our team and we'll keep our fingers crossed for them!