Short Distance

     Five rounds have passed in no time. It feels like the tournament has just started and it's already finishing... Well, after playing 13 rounds at WJCC, 7 rounds seem nothing :)))
     We have 3 wins and 2 losses so far, each of us scoring 3,5p/5. It is a very important match today, well, in such short distances all the matches are very important...

Bo.	4	CS Politechnica-Antibiotice Iasi	Рейт	-	2	SHSM Nashe Nasledie	Рейт	0 : 0
3.1	GM	Lagno, Kateryna	2534	-	GM	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	2495
3.2	GM	Cmilyte, Viktorija	2505	-	GM	Gunina, Valentina	2506
3.3	WGM	Bulmaga, Irina	2401	-	IM	Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina	2410
3.4	WGM	L'ami, Alina	2362	-	WGM	Girya, Olga	2439

     Our team is currently sharing 3rd-4th place, with everything to be decided in the last 2 matches.

     The Monte Carlo team is unstoppable in this event- they won all the matches and they are on clear first. 

     Here are some photos we've taken during the last few days:

xoxo from Rhodes! ;)

Rhodes

     Here I am in Rhodes!
     I arrived yesterday, late in the night and I still haven't found any time to explore, but I'm sure I will in the next days. The first thing that I noticed when our plane landed was the huge airport with so,so many people in there! Who'd think that Rhodes is so popular in this time of the year?!
     As about the tournament, the 1st round will start today, at 3 pm local time. There are 11 teams in the Women section and 53(!) in the Men one.
     Here you can find the pairings for the 1st round: http://chess-results.com/tnr110528.aspx?lan=11&art=3&rd=1&turdet=YES&flag=30&wi=984 We play against the Italian team "Fischer Chieti":

Bo.	9	Fischer Chieti	Рейт	-	4	CS Politechnica-Antibiotice Iasi	Рейт	0 : 0
4.1	IM	Zimina, Olga	2337	-	GM	Lagno, Kateryna	2534
4.2	WIM	Brunello, Marina	2263	-	GM	Cmilyte, Viktorija	2505
4.3		Gueci, Tea	2054	-	WGM	Bulmaga, Irina	2401
4.4		Di Primio, Eugenia	1982	-	WGM	L'ami, Alina	2362

     The hotel where everyone stays (including us) is quite ok, though it's not what I expected... Well, I can't complain, as I am really excited to be here and to play after a 3 weeks break :)

     Here you can follow the live games: http://euro2013.chessdom.com/

Will keep you posted!

xoxo from Rhodes! ;)

Spider's style

     The Gibraltar Tradewise Chess Festival has come to it's decisive last 3 rounds. There are three players leading the tournament with 5,5p out of 6: Vitiugov Nikita,Georgiev Kiril and Le Quang Liem.
     Today's round should be a very interesting one, here are the pairings of the top10 boards:

1	9	GM	Vitiugov Nikita	2694	5½		5½	GM	Georgiev Kiril	2643	16
2	1	GM	Ivanchuk Vassily	2758	5		5½	GM	Le Quang Liem	2705	8
3	14	GM	Iturrizaga Eduardo	2650	5		5	GM	Kamsky Gata	2740	2
4	3	GM	Adams Michael	2725	5		5	GM	Tkachiev Vladislav	2650	15
5	21	GM	Salgado Lopez Ivan	2606	5		5	GM	Navara David	2710	6
6	17	GM	Jones Gawain C B	2632	5		5	GM	Shirov Alexei	2708	7
7	10	GM	Short Nigel D	2690	5		5	IM	Larino Nieto David	2497	45
8	5	GM	Vachier-Lagrave Maxime	2711	4½		4½	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2516	37
9	11	GM	Yu Yangyi	2688	4½		4½	GM	Cmilyte Viktorija	2515	38
10	13	GM	Fridman Daniel	2667	4½		4½	WGM	Ju Wenjun	2505	42

     Adams (who's called by chess players "the spider" because of his playing style) played a very nice game yesterday, against Dzagnidze. Here are some mementos from the game:

Black to move

21...Nfxd5!! 22.exd5- Re2! 23. Rxe2- Rxe2 24. Rd1- Bd4 25.Be1

Black to move

25...Qe8! 26.Nf3- Qe3 27. Qb1- Rxb2 28. Qc1-Qxc1 29. Rxc1-Be3 30. Rd1-c4

Black has a decisive advantage that Adams managed to convert into a full point

     There seems to be a very nice and friendly atmosphere in Gibraltar. There are many other events being organized besides the tournaments. For example, there's been a game played on a huge chess board- 5 Top women vs 5 Top men!

Nana Dzagnindze, Tania Sachdev, Valentina Gunina, Viktoria Cmylite and Stuart Conquest holding the microphone (the main organizer of the event)- from left to right

Le Quang Liem, Gawain Jones, Maxim Vachier-Lagrave and Gata Kamsky (from left to right)

     The men's team turned to be a bit stronger and won the game :)

Gibraltar's famous Rock

     I am very curious to see who's going to be the winner this year!