2nd round

     We  had a good day yesterday- making an equal match against the favourite nr.1- Ukraine. All the games ended in a draw.
     I can't say that I was very satisfied with my game, as I didn't play precisely in the opening and my opponent never gave me even a "hint" for advantage. I went for an equal endgame which I thought was a bit better for me, but making an imprecise move, had to make a draw myself.
     Here's the interview I gave after the 1st round (the original is in Russian):

   

     Here's the English version:




Here are some photos from the yesterday's round:

Cristina Foisor made a draw against Katerina Lahno on the 1st board

Alina l'Ami and Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky

The team captain-Gergely Szabo and me

Luminita Cosma was the last to finish the game, holding a draw against Natalia Zhukova

Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky and me

R 2: Ukraine-Romania

Natalia Zhukova vs Luminita Cosma

     We play against India today- it won't be an easy match. I hope we'll do well!

1st Round

     The first round has finished. I made a draw, but the team unfortunately lost... Well, we played against Russia- it was a difficult match. We lost 4-0 the last time we played against it, in Porto-Carras, in 2011. The match looked better for us after the 1st hour, but then it turned another way.
     The tournament is organized very well- I liked the playing hall; we had beverages and sweets in the relaxing room; there's also live coverage of the event. I already enjoy my stay here :)
     The firsts continue in this tournament for me- I had my first press-conference! I liked it so much- it's nice to play in the top and I'm so happy we've got this chance! No matter of the overall result- it will be a great experience and motivation to work harder in order to get here more often.
     Here you can see my today's game:
Here are some photos of our team from the official site of the event: http://astana2013.fide.com/images/stories/gallery/Round%201%20Astana/index.html

Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky

Cristina Foisor vs Valentina Gunina

Alina l'Ami vs Alisa Galiamova

      We play against Ukraine - the favourite nr.1 tomorrow.

      Keep your fingers crossed for us!

xoxo from Astana

Opening Ceremony

     The Women's World Team Chess Championship has officially started!
     We've attended the Opening Ceremony and it's been quite nice! Cristina picked the 2nd number for us- let's hope it will be a lucky one! We went for a festive dinner afterwards, followed by a team meating :)
     Here are some photos from the Opening Ceremony:

Our team: from left to right: Cristina Foisor, Alina l'Ami, me, Luminita Cosma, Gergely Szabo and Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky

The favourite nr.1: Ukraine

The favourite nr.3: Russia (and our opponent in the 1st round)

The Chinese team

The USA

India

France

Kazakhstan

Turkey

Kazakstan's Dinara Saduakassova receiving the WGM title from the FIDE president-Kirsan Ilyumzhinov

Gulishkan Nakhbayeva also received her WGM title

Local singers

From left to right: Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky, Alina l'Ami, Cristina Foisor, Luminita Cosma and me

     We play against Russia in the 1st round, with white on the 1st board. Here's their team composition:

1	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2495	RUS
2	IM	Gunina Valentina	2505	RUS
3	WGM	Pogonina Natalija	2475	RUS
4	IM	Galliamova Alisa	2459	RUS
5	WGM	Girya Olga	2440	RUS

     The exact board order and the player who's going to rest in the 1st round is going to be known tomorrow morning, at 11 am. The round will be played at 3 pm and here's the official site, where you can follow the games and the live commentary: http://astana2013.fide.com/en/teams/78-live-games

Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Snow in Astana!

     Here I am, freezy Astana!

Ready for the 16 floors jog! :D

     I had a nice trip from Chisinau to Astana through Wien. It's been a 1h 40 min flight from Chisinau to Wien    and another 5 hours flight from Wien to Astana. The time difference with Moldova and Romania is +4 hours, so it's 11 am here. The city is brand new from what I've noticed from the bus; it looks for me as a  much bigger Khanty-Mansiysk. Well, it's just a quick impression, so don't judge me too harsh- I guess I'll be able to tell much more about it in some days.

My room

     I've met almost all the team in Wien, they were flying from Bucharest (Carmen from Dusseldorf). I've met Alina only at breakfast (she arrived from Amsterdam through Kiev). I am very happy to be surrounded by chess players (most of them being friends) again. The atmosphere seems to be very nice in here. Though it's only -7 degrees outside, our rooms have got a special "sauna effect", I guess that the people in Kazakhstan don't like the cold weather :))) The hotel is pretty cool, everyone's got single rooms and they are huuuge! The only minus is that the wellness center doesn't have a free entrance. All we (the chess players) can get is a 50% disscount, which leaves a pretty high price anyways... What a pity! I guess I will just jog  from the 1st floor to the 16th :))) The internet seems to be a high-speed one, so I will be very active on the blog! (I Hope that I will be in a good mood to post too :)))
     Today is the arrival day- the 1st round is going to be tomorrow, at 3 pm local time. I plan to relax all the day long, don't think that I'll go for any walks, maybe only for dinner.

     What other news can I tell you? Well, I've found out that I'm going to play on the 2nd board, though initially it had to be the 3rd one- not that it matters too much- all the teams are strong and dangerous- no matter of the board order. I've had a "non-eventful" half year from the "chess point of view", so I have no idea how the tournament might go for me, but I hope I'll do well. It's important to feel comfortable and to enjoy the atmosphere and I've got it, so I think it should all go well.

Astana- view from the window

xoxo from Astana ;)

Let's get married

     I've been watching a popular Russian TV-show the days I was home. It's called "Let's get married". The idea of this show is to create a couple. There's a man or a woman who seeks for a mate with some specifics. He or she posts his formular on the site of the show, so the other registered people could see it. He is scheduled a date to come to the show afterwards, where "three experienced women" helps him select one of the three pretendents who come after their attention got caught by the one who had posted the formular.
     As one could imagine, the most of the people who come are the ones who have troubles in the "relationship field". Why am I telling all of these? I've caught myself guessing the choice the "seeker" would make every time.
     As the show is broadcasted in the evening, my parents, my sister and me usually watch it all together, making bets on who's going to be chosen by the seeker. It was particularly funny last night, when the "three experienced women" recommended the 1st pretendent and my parents and sister were sure that the seeker would take their advice, while I was sure that the young woman would choose the 3rd man. My parents and my sister made a bet with me- the loser would have had to wash all the dishes (yeah, it was the "right after dinner" time). I was so satisfied when the lady chose the 3rd man... :)))
     It just seems that the seekers never make their choice being driven by what they feel, but exclusively by rationality. It turns out that I rock rationality, though I'm not sure if it's a good thing. Has the spontaneity died? Does it make me a "calculated" person?
     I don't want to be "the rationalist" for my whole life. I want a person in my life who would make me irrational.
     It's not too much to ask, is it?

Goodbye winter!

     28th of February... It's the last winter day today. This winter has been be warmest one for me; it is the 1st winter in which I didn't count the days left until it would  end. This 3 months can be described as the "months of firsts". I've experienced a lot of new things and I've found out myself capable of feelings I didn't know I could ever feel. I didn't notice how the time has passed this winter and it can't be anything but good. I lived it all at my best and I feel  power streaming through my veins! I know that this spring will bring joy to me and I hope that I'll accomplish what I have planned.
      Goodbye winter!
   

World Women's Team Championship

     There are 2 more days left until we leave for Kazakhstan. We've qualified for the World Women's Team Championship which is going to take place in Astana.
      Here's the list of the teams and their composition:

1. Ukraine FIDE ID Full name Rating Avg 1 1411091 Ushenina, Anna GM 2477 2 14109336 Lagno, Kateryna GM 2547 3 14114550 Muzychuk, Mariya IM 2471 4 14101181 Yanovska (Gaponenko), Inna IM 2405 2492.3 5 14101513 Zhukova, Natalia GM 2471 6 Captain Brodsky, Michail GM 2. Georgia FIDE ID Full name Title Rating Avg 1 13601903 Dzagnidze, Nana GM 2555 2 13602640 Khotenashvili, Bela IM 2499 3 13601458 Javakhishvili, Lela IM 2461 4 13600320 Khurtsidze, Nino IM 2437 2488.0 5 13602446 Melia, Salome IM 2403 6 Captain Gurieli, Nino        IM 3. Russia FIDE ID Full name Rating Avg 1 4128125 Kosteniuk, Alexandra GM 2495 2 4167570 Gunina, Valentina IM 2490 3 4147855 Pogonina, Natalija WGM 2475 4 4129752 Galliamova, Alisa IM 2459 2479.8 5 4195752 Girya, Olga WGM 2441 6 Captain Rublevsky, Sergey GM 4. China FIDE ID Full name Rating Avg 1 8603006 Ju Wenjun WGM 2505 2 8602689 Huang Qian WGM 2478 3 8603642 Tan Zhongyi WGM 2466 4 8604002 Guo Qi WGM 2431 2470.0 5 8603162 Shen Yang IM 2415 6 Captain Yu Shaoteng GM 5. USA FIDE ID Full name Rating Avg 1 14101572 Zatonskykh, Anna IM 2491 2 2012782 Krush, Irina IM 2460 3 13301918 Abrahamyan, Tatev WGM 2300 4 1212915 Foisor, Sabina WGM 2313 2391.0 5 11602252 Ni, Viktorija WIM 2263 6 Captain Khodarkovsky, Michael 6. Romania FIDE ID Full name Rating Avg 1 1200496 Foisor, Cristina Adela IM 2389 2 1201590 Cosma, Elena Luminita WGM 2332 3 13903063 Bulmaga, Irina WGM 2355 4 1210246 Lami, Alina WGM 2362 2359.5 5 1206729 Voicu-Jagodzinsky, Carmen WGM 2281 6 Captain Szabo, Gergely Andras Gyula GM 7. India FIDE ID Full name Rating Avg 1 5013623 Gomes, Mary Ann WGM 2394 2 5012600 Karavade, Eesha Sanjay IM 2391 3 5004330 Mohota, Nisha IM 2327 4 5029295 Padmini, Rout WGM 2307 2354.8 5 5016193 Soumya, Swaminathan WGM 2291 6 Captain Sahu Sekhar, Chandra IM 8. France FIDE ID Full name Rating Avg 1 623725 Milliet, Sophie IM 2408 2 13601717 Maisurasze, Nino WGM 2331 3 2902265 Collas, Silvia IM 2286 4 11600209 Safranska, Anda WGM 2322 2336.8 5 642002 Benmesbah, Natacha WIM 2266 6 Captain Tregubov, Pavel GM 9. Kazakhstan FIDE ID Full name Rating Avg 1 13704788 Nakhbayeva, Guliskhan WGM 2353 2 13700090 Saduakassova, Dinara WGM 2301 3 13703595 Davletbayeva, Madina WIM 2272 4 13702971 Dauletova, Gulmira WIM 2265 2297.8 5 13703544 Abdumalik, Zhansaya WIM 2184 6 Captain Kotsur, Pavel GM 10. Turkey FIDE ID Full name Rating Avg 1 6302920 Yildiz, Betul Cemre WGM 2368 2 6302599 Ozturk, Kubra WGM 2281 3 6325670 Cemhan, Kardelen WCM 2025 4 6300278 Sop, Selen WFM 2028 2175.5 5 6306411 Kaya, Emel WCM 1995 6 Captain Mikhalchishin, Adrian GM

     We are nr. 6 by rating, not as bad as I expected, I thought we'd be the last team :)))
     Our team has changed it's composition a little bit from the Olympiad, with Mihaela Sandu being replaced by Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky.
      The reigning Romanian Women's Champion- Cristina Foisor is going to play on the 1st board:

Cristina-Adela Foisor

     Luminita Cosma is on the 2nd board:

Elena-Luminita Cosma

     I am going to play on the 3rd board:

Irina Bulmaga

     Alina l'Ami is on the 4th board:

Alina l'Ami

     Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky will be on the 5th board:

Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky

     Our captain will be Gergely Szabo:

Gergely Szabo

     It is going to be a very interesting tournament and I can't wait to play. I have the feeling that it's going to be a good tournament for us!

     As about Astana, I looked for some photos on internet and I'm even more curious to visit it now:

     You can follow the tournament here: http://astana2013.fide.com/

Keep you fingers crossed for us!

xoxo from Chisinau ;)