Humanity

     As it was the birthday of my favourite chess player of all the times- Alexander Alekhine yesterday, I had started to think about fates of different known chess players.
     It is known that Alexander Alekhine, besides the all known fact of being the 4th World Chess Champion and an outstanding chess player had struggled with the addiction to alcohol along his career, having battles against it in the most crucial moments of his life.
     I was thinking- is it something about chess that changes us?
     It seems for me that the best chess players are... different. Maybe it is about the disappointment they deal with, because no one can play without losses; or maybe it's about the difficulties that they face while leaving a life on stand by while going to tournaments and training sessions... The fact is that something changes in every professional chess player sooner or later- I mean... Well, it's normal to face changes during a lifetime- but I talk about the things that chess changes in us- we tend to become selfish and to try to have it all only for ourselves, we tend to put our interests ahead of everyone else's-because a chess player does not make any compromises during a game.
     We are also not that good at finding solutions to deal with losses- some drink, some smoke, others swear, forget about themselves while partying, or some come to not caring; the best of us- they find better ways, like practicing some kind of sport, reading, having long walks, watching movies, listening to music...
     I believe that making chess the centre of Universe in one's life is really dangerous- there should be patient, loving and supporting people around you in order not to lose the humanity...
   
   

Playing giveaway

   The tournament "Pius Branzeu Memorial" has finished. My result was far from my expectations, I wanted myself to fight for the general prizes, but ended up taking only the 4th women prize...

    Here are the final standings:

1	GM	Nevednichy Vladislav	ROU	2545	2545	Cs Aem Luxten Timisoara	7.0	50.5	39.5	38.00
2	GM	Manolache Marius	ROU	2541	2541	Cs Studentesc Medicina Timisoa	6.5	53.5	42.5	37.25
3	GM	Jianu Vlad-Cristian	ROU	2498	2498	Csm Lugoj	6.5	52.0	41.0	36.25
4	IM	Anton Teodor	ROU	2423	2423	Cs Studentesc Medicina Timisoa	6.5	49.5	39.5	33.00
5	IM	Bogdan Dan	ROU	2379	2379	Sah Club Cugir	6.5	48.5	39.0	34.25
6	IM	Foisor Cristina-Adela	ROU	2383	2383	Cs Aem Luxten Timisoara	6.5	44.5	34.5	32.00
7	IM	Petrisor Adrian-Marian	ROU	2380	2380	Css Nr. 1 Timisoara	6.0	54.0	43.0	34.50
8	I	Deac Bogdan-Daniel	ROU	2039	2039	Sah Club Ramnicu Valcea	6.0	50.0	40.0	31.25
9	IM	Peptan Corina-Isabela	ROU	2447	2447	Csm Bucuresti	6.0	50.0	39.0	32.75
10	IM	Milenkovic Mladen	SRB	2399	0		6.0	48.5	37.5	30.75
11	WFM	Visanescu Daria-Ioana	ROU	2050	2050	Clubul De Sah Deva	6.0	38.5	31.0	20.50
12	WGM	Bulmaga Irina	ROU	2364	2364	Cs Politehnica Iasi	5.5	49.5	38.5	28.25
13	WIM	Foisor Mihaela-Veronica	ROU	2208	2208	Css Nr. 1 Timisoara	5.5	47.5	37.5	26.75

   I'd like to congratulate the winner- Vladislav Nevednichy- he showed a great fighting spirit, managing to win 3 games in a row after losing from his "student" Adrian Petrisor.

Vladislav and his daughter- Alexandra, together in happiness and  sorrow

   There's been a very unpleaseant incident yesterday. I won't mention the names of the persons who were involved, but I would never believe that they were capable of such things if I didn't know for sure. In order for his opponent to take a prize and to share it with him afterwards some player "blundered" in a completely winning position. I didn't believe that his opponent agreed for such a thing- I respected that player and I believed he had a future in chess ahead, now I think he must do some serious thinking and to reconsider his status of a "chess player", because this kind of people are no better than cheaters and there is no place for them in any kind of sports.

   As about the tournament, I can't help being amazed by Deac Bogdan-Daniel, an 11 yo boy who beated me and scored 6 points out of 9, showing a great playing skill!

   I will leave from Timisoara tomorrow, returning to Iasi for some days and then I'll go to Chisinau for hollidays. Coming to Timisoara always leaves nice memories, though this time they were somehow bitter-sweet...