Evolve and Adapt!

     I am in an a bit melancholic mood lately and with "lately" I mean the last 2 days, since the World Junior Chess Championship has started in Pune, India.
     This Championship was my most awaited tournament of the year in 2011,'12 and '13 and many hopes and dreams were linked to it. I guess that I can be called a "veteran" of this Championship, as I participated 4 times there, the first one being in 2005, when I was only 11 yo. I am a bit old for it now, but I am following it's games with great interest, as I know the competitiveness, the pressure and the great tension which rule there.
     Well, I guess it's enough about me, time never stays and one has to evolve and adapt in order to keep the pace with the running away time :D
      Romania is represented by Ioana Gelip in the Girls section and Bogdan Deac in the Open one. You can follow their results and games on the official site of the event: http://www.worldjuniorchess2014.com/ The games start every day at 2.30 pm local time (12 pm Romanian time).
     Thirteen rounds is a very, very long way to go and I wish our players best of luck, lots of inspiration and steel nerves!

Bogdan Deac

Ioana Gelip

     Keep your fingers crossed for them!

     P.S. A great encounter awaits for us on the first board of the Open section today, as Bogdan is facing the nr.1 favorite- Fedoseev Vladimir, rated 2661!


    xoxo from Chisinau ;)

20 years to go

     I am again in Romania and it feels... almost right.
     I've been inactive for quite a bit- this past month wasn't easy at all and the reason is the World Junior Championship- the last one for me.
      I took the 5th place, though I was leading the tournament for some rounds. One may think that it was just another tournament- one of the so many others I've played- but it was a special tournament for me- one where many ideas, hopes and tries to prove myself met. There's no point of hidding my disappointment- anyone who understands a professional chess player can see it easily- I did my best at the time and though there might be some things I'd change now- I couldn't have done more.
     An important period of my life has just ended- 20 years have passed in no time at all and it's time for asking myself what's next. What do I want to do now? What is the plan? I am still not sure about the answers and a serious thinking is ahead. There are no hopes, no plans and no ideas, no things I want and nothing I want to try- but there will be... sooner or later. It depends only on me. In fact, who can know better than myself which direction is the right one for me?
     They say that the biggest mistake in chess is to have no plan- "It's better to have a bad plan than no plan at all." The only thing is that we're not talking only about chess here.
     I have about 2 and a half weeks of finding "the plan", of doing all the necessary calculation and estimating the final position after all the possible variations.
     Looking in retrospective- these 20 years were good. God, I'd be a liar if I'd say I'm not happy of the way I lived- it's just that so many "what if" attack me... though I guess there's nothing strange or out of common in this.
      What to say more?

      "There are twnety years to go
       And twenty ways to know..."




xoxo from Romania I guess ;)

Chinese Wall

    Seven rounds have already passed and we have a free day tomorrow.
    The tournament is very tough- as I expected. I've got 6p/7- a nice score, though the real fight is still to come. The distance is very long- 13 rounds- anything can happen. I am happy with my games so far and I hope to keep playing decent chess.
     I am really impressed by the play of the Chinese GM Yu Yangyi (2662),who has 6,5p/7- he shows a very high level of preparation and amazing chess skills. I wonder if anyone will be able to stop him- I guess that the Chinese Wall is kind of unbreakable ;)
     You can find the games,comments, photos and videos from the tournament on the official site of the event: http://wjcc2013.tsf.org.tr/

Will keep you posted!

xoxo from Kocaeli ;)
   

3rd Round

     Three rounds have already passed in the World Junior Chess Championship, which is taking place in Kocaeli,Turkey.
     The tournament is organized really nice, despite changing the place of venue in the last moment (it had to be held in Hatay first, but because of the danger of a chemical attack it was moved). We stay and play in a real 5 star hotel where one can't find anything to complain about.
     I've got 2,5p/3 so far, making a draw against Abdumalik Zhansaya (2277)- a very young player from Kazakhstan. It was a very interesting game which ended with a perpetual. You can check it here:



There are 10 more rounds to go, which you can follow here: http://wjcc2013.tsf.org.tr/en/live-games

Will keep you posted!

xoxo from Kocaeli ;)

Walk this way

     Here I am in Bucharest, on my way to the WJCC, which will take place in Kocaeli, Turkey.
     I expect to arrive in Kocaeli this evening, as the 1st round is already tomorrow, at 3 pm local time.
     It is my last year when I am still a junior and I've already played for 3 times in these championships (2005, 2011, 2012), so I guess that I can say that I'm a "veteran" of these tournaments.
     The special thing about the World Junior Championship is that it has 13 rounds. It's a very long distance and the champion is unknown until the end of the last round. It is not easy at all to win such kind of events, as besides strong play, one needs a bit of luck and most importantly- steel nerves :D (yeah, I'm still talking about women's chess :P )
     All in all, I hope to enjoy the following two weeks and to show some decent chess.
     You can follow the live games, the results and all kind of news about the tournament on the official site of the event: http://wjcc2013.tsf.org.tr/ Here is the unofficial list of participants: http://wjcc2013.tsf.org.tr/images/stories/forms/unofficial_list.pdf

     Wish you all a nice day!

xoxo from Bucharest ;)

Dream Team

     Here I am , again at home- feeling simply great!
     The Romanian Club Championship has ended as we all hoped it would- we've become champions!

Ranking crosstable

Rk.	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	CS POLITEHNICA-ANTIBIOTICE IAŞI	*	2	2½	3½	3	3½	3	3	4	4	17	0	28.5
2	CS STUD. MEDICINA TIMIŞOARA	2	*	½	1½	3	4	3½	4	4	4	13	0	26.5
3	CS AEM LUXTEN TIMIŞOARA	1½	3½	*	4	2	2	1½	4	3	4	12	0	25.5
4	CSM LUGOJ	½	2½	0	*	3	1½	2½	2	3½	4	11	0	19.5
5	CS SÎNANDREI	1	1	2	1	*	3	2	3	3	4	10	0	20.0
6	CLUBUL CENTRAL DE ŞAH BUCUREŞTI	½	0	2	2½	1	*	3	½	3½	4	9	2	17.0
7	CSM BUCUREŞTI	1	½	2½	1½	2	1	*	3½	3½	4	9	0	19.5
8	ACS ŞAH APA NOVA BUCUREŞTI	1	0	0	2	1	3½	½	*	3½	4	7	0	15.5
9	CS UNIVERSITATEA ARAD	0	0	1	½	1	½	½	½	*	3	2	0	7.0
10	CSS TG. MUREŞ	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	*	0	0	1.0

     I scored 8p/9, making two draws and winning some Elo points and the first prize at the 2nd board.

     It was a really nice tournament and I am so happy that I've got such amazing teammates: 

6. CS POLITEHNICA-ANTIBIOTICE IAŞI (RtgAvg:2452 / TB1: 17 / TB2: 0) Captain: MANOLE VASILE
Bo.		Name	Rtg	FED	Pts.	Games
1	GM	Lagno Kateryna	2542	UKR	2.5	3.0
2	GM	Cmilyte Viktorija	2497	LTU	4.5	6.0
3	WGM	Bulmaga Irina	2410	ROU	8.0	9.0
4	WGM	L'ami Alina	2358	ROU	8.0	9.0
5	WIM	Padurariu Ioana-Smaranda	2205	ROU	5.5	9.0

     

     As about the near future- I will leave for the World Junior Championship the day after tomorrow. It will be held close to Istanbul, though it had to be held in Hatay- at the border with Syria initially. 

Will keep you posted!

xoxo from Chisinau ;)

Zen

     Here I am in Bulgaria, engjoying the last 2 days of my vacation.

     It's been an amazing week with a lot of sun, relaxation and good mood!

With my dear sister-Elena

     I haven't been very active with the posts, but from now on it's going to change. There are 2 tournaments ahead- the Romanian Club Championship and the World Junior Championship. The first one is going to start on the 31st of August. You can find the list of participants here: http://chess-results.com/tnr109534.aspx?art=8&lan=11&wi=821 The second tournament will start on the 13th of September, in Turkey.

    

     Will keep you posted!

     

Me at worst

     It's been a tradition to post only my best games on the blog. I have decided that it should change- I also have terrible, very disappointing games.
     My game from the last round (13th) of the last year's World Junior Championship is on the top of "the black list". I had a good tournament- playing against all the favorites and sometimes even leading the tournament. If I would win in the last round against a lower rated opponent, I would have shared the 1-4 place, taking the 3rd one based on the additional criteria.
     I think that I felt too close to this medal. I knew I was a better player than my opponent at that moment and it made me be too optimistic about my position during the game...
     This is the game from which I've learned a lot and I still watch it from time to time in order to remember my mistakes and not to repeat them.