High Voltage

     The days pass quickly and 4 rounds are already behind. I played three games so far and if not the game I lost unbelievably stupid in the 2nd round, everything would have been fine.
     It was a very important match for us yesterday, one that  can be easily described by the words "Missed Opportunities". Our positions looked very promising at some point, but "Caissa" had another plans and  we even lost the match with a minimum 4,5-5,5 score at the end.
     My game was a very interesting and tense one, as I played against the very young and talented girl from Kazakhstan- Abdumalik Zhansaya. She is already a WGM (at the age of only 14 yo) and has some important achievements behind her. You can check the game here,by clicking "view pgn": http://superlig2014.tsf.org.tr/tr/component/turnuva/?task=fileview&kid=346



 

 

     We have a double round today, but I am to rest in the morning.
     I enjoy being here, as every year I play in the Turkish League and I hope that our team will show a good result :)


Wish you all a nice weekend!

xoxo from Kocaeli :)

The other Side of a Medal

     The last time I wrote was just before the beginning of the Olympiad and since then a lot of things have happened.
     Our team was very unlucky in some crucial matches and unfortunately we weren't able to repeat our success from 2012, when we took the 5th place. We finished 11th this year.
     Despite our not fantastic play, I had a rather good tournament, winning the bronze medal on the 4th board with the score of 8p/10.

     Someone knowing me a bit would know how much I wanted to add to my collection a worthy medal and how hard I've tried during the last years in order to get it. Though it came as a big surprise to me ( I didn't expect to get it after I lost one game) I can't say that I was not happy about it. After all, show me a sportsman who would win an Olympic medal and won't be happy (maybe only Plushenko with silver)...
     So what is the point of writing all of this? Well, I will tell- some important to me people were telling me during the last half year: " You don't have any worthy results", "you play rather bad", well, now- here it is- a result ( Olympic must be worthy, right?)- and no one seems to care or to notice.
     What can I say?




 The more years pass, the more I get disappointed in people.

P.S. I am at the Turkish League now, where I hope to play well, but not for anyone else, just for myself, because it seems that's how it works- one should be only for himself.


xoxo from Turkey :)

The northest North

     Here it is- the northest North- Tromsø.
     Once I got out of the airport the unusual air just hit me, I have never thought that I could actually  feel such a difference in matter of breathing. How to explain... Breathing is not a necessity, it is a great pleasure here. I feel that right now- my lungs are absolutely in love with Tromsø :)))
     We arrived yesterday, in the evening, if to admit that "evenings" exist here too... The arctic nights in summer- you know what it means? It means 21 hours of daylight per day :)) Quite cool, huh?! Though one might find it difficult to sleep in such conditions- I slept like a baby- my best sleep since like... ever :)

    I am very happy to be here and as everyone else in Tromsø, can't wait for the Olympiad to start!    Our women's team is the 6th in the starting ranking list: 

Team-Starting rank

No.		Team	Team	RtgAvg
1		CHN	China	2549
2		RUS	Russia	2520
3		UKR	Ukraine	2510
4		GEO	Georgia	2499
5		IND	India	2421
6		ROU	Romania	2407
7		USA	United States of America	2405
8		POL	Poland	2402
9		FRA	France	2390
10		ARM	Armenia	2383

and we have a very nice team:

Bo.		Name	Rtg
1	IM	PEPTAN Corina-Isabela	2422
2	WGM	L'AMI Alina	2446
3	IM	FOISOR Cristina-Adela	2404
4	IM	BULMAGA Irina	2354
5	WGM	COSMA Elena-Luminita	2327

     The men's team is the 32 nd in the starting ranking list, but one must not fool himself- they were 8th at the last Olympiad :)

Bo.		Name	Rtg
1	GM	LUPULESCU Constantin	2625
2	GM	VAJDA Levente	2561
3	GM	JIANU Vlad-Cristian	2579
4	GM	PARLIGRAS Mircea-Emilian	2574
5	GM	NEVEDNICHY Vladislav	2554

			Follow our results on : http://chess-results.com/tnr140381.aspx?lan=1&art=0&flag=30&wi=821 and keep updated with the latest news from the Olympiad on the official site of the event: https://chess24.com/en/olympiad2014
xoxo from Tromso ;)

Stormy Me

     No posts since European... How so? Well, something must have gone wrong,or not really- just VACATION! :D
     Many things happened since Plovdiv, including my wining of 67 euros because of sharing the 20th place there :))) It was a normal tournament which could have gone much better if not the few missed opportunities. The Olympiad follows soon, starting from the 2nd of August and I have no idea what to expect considering all these crazy stuff with organization going on. Well, there's still enough time to worry about it, but for now- better to focus on my little escape to Thasos :)

     10 hours of traveling from Plovdiv to Kavala, 1 hour trip on a ferry and here it is- the perfect place for relaxation. Well, as perfect as it is, it won't be normal if there were no storms and rain and not just in the proper meaning.
     I don't know what it is that got me very melancholic- the rain, the storming sea, the strange Marquez's book or the stormy me :)
      It's too bad to understand that there's no magic in the real World and once closing the book you just take on your common life from the place you left it...

xoxo from Thasos ;)

   

Bitter ladies

     Warning!!! Regardless of the title, this post is about lemonade :P

     After my last post I've managed to score only 0,5p/3. The logic of a normal superstitious woman chess player would tell that posting anything else would be insane,but I have always thought that what is not normal is good, so here it is- a new post from Plovdiv.
     Four rounds have passed in no time at all and though I have not so many points, I have a fantastic time here and lots of energy and inspiration that still wait to be directed to the right point.
     I will not speak much about the mistakes I've made during the games, let's say it was just bad luck. The only decision I regret so far is that a waiter convinced me to take lemonade instead of the desired ice coffee- that's where my bad decisions for today have started (maybe it was the same waiter's fault that I sacrificed a bunch of pieces today).
     So, from now on- no more lemonades- cause no one likes bitter ladies, just coffees and the points will start to come :D


xoxo from Plovdiv ;)

Plovdiv

     Here it is, another European Championship- this time in Plovdiv.
     Somehow, I think that I fully understand the time passing only by another Europeans coming... Last year-Belgrad, 2012-Turkey and so on. What is it different about this European Ch? I am not sure that there is anything new about any of them at all. I mean- you just play chess and the best ones qualify to the World Cup and that's all.
     I like playing in Plovdiv, have been here another 2 times and really enjoyed my time :) It is a very pleasant city to take walks in and also for shopping :D These Bulgarian manufactured shoes and bags are just wallet killers :P
     As about the tournament itself, here is the official page: http://www.eiwcc2014.eu/  and here you can follow the results: http://chess-results.com/tnr136442.aspx?lan=1&art=2&rd=2&flag=30&wi=821
     Some photos from my yesterday's walk:

xoxo from Plovdiv ;)

Gigantic Suitcase

     A great period will start for me soon, one which I can't wait to begin!
     I haven't played chess so much lately, my last tournament was somewhere in the middle of May... I was caught with lots of exams at University (don't mean to gloat- but I passed all of them and now-I'm officially in my last year of Uni  :D ).
     A difficult task is now to be solved- how to pack a suitcase for 2 months? :))) I will go to the EIWCC in Plovdiv on the 4th of July, then a little vacation in Greece, after that- Olympiad and Turkish League, and I will be back home in September :D  The difficult part about it is that the Olympiad will be held in Norway, Tromsø, where it's more an early spring than a real summer in August.
     I've really missed traveling non-stop and playing strong tournaments... I have missed my chess friends, I have missed the tournament atmosphere! I guess you can feel my enthusiasm about the forthcoming months :)
     All in all, I am very optimistic about everything and I am really thankful for the opportunity of having such an amazing life as a chess player!


xoxo from Chisinau ;)