The blog of Irina Bulmaga

Saturday, 9 March 2013

Round 6 in Astana

The match has begun! I am sorry that I couldn't start the live chat earlier, as the internet went down in the whole hotel, due to the weather problems.
Here are some photos I took at the beginning of the round:

Let's take a coffee!

Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky, Gergely Szabo and Alina l'Ami

Sweets and beverages in the relaxation room

Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky

Alina l'Ami

Luminita Cosma

Romania vs China

The playing hall

Tan Zhangyi- Luminita Cosma- draw

Shen Yang- Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky-draw

Zhukova Natalia vs Benmesbah Natacha

The Women's World Chess Champion- Anna Ushenina

Bela Khotenashvili vs Alexandra Kosteniuk

Salome Melia vs Olga Girya

Russia vs Georgia

Luminita Cosma vs Tan Zhongyi

Natacha Benmesbah of France

Shen Yang vs Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky

Kaya Emel vs Davletbayeva Madina

Kubra Ozturk vs Dauletova Gulmira

Gulishkan Nakhbayeva- 1st board of the Kazakhstan's team

Alina l'Ami vs Guo Qi ( the World Girls U20 Champion)

Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine

Katerina Lahno vs Nino Maisuradze

Alisa Galliamova vs Lela Javakishvili

Valentina Gunina vs Nana Dzagnidze

India vs USA

Russia vs Georgia

Our charming official photographer- Anastasiya Karlovich

Here's the hall where one can watch the live games

... on this screen

I went to the "Hanshatyr" comercial center afterwards- it's about 20 minutes to walk from our hotel. I passed through the "Alley of restaurants":

"Tre Kronor"- a Swedish restaurant

A Korean restaurant

Not sure, but I think it's a Turkish restaurant

And there's my destination...

Want to have a seat? :))

It's got a very interesting arhitecture! You can judge by yourself:

I had to walk by myself through the snowstorm- it wasn't either pleasant or very warming- but what one doesn't do in order to satisfy his curiosity! All the efforts were more than worth it- I have never seen such a mall in my life!

A special carrousel that takes one to the very top of the mall

It seemed a bit scary to go there by myself, so I preferred to be a simple spectator

There was some kind of a little car that was spinning around the mall- I had a really nice ride!

Two games have already finished- Carmen and Luminita made draws. Alina and Cristina are still playing. Let's watch the games and hope for better!

xoxo from Astana

Skew needle

It is going to be a very nice day for me!
I don't play today, so it's like a 2nd free day for me. I will go to the round to take some photos of the girls and to have a coffee from the relaxing room ;)
There will be a live chat during the round here ( it will start in 3 hours-at 3pm local time). Feel free to comment! I will also be there at the beginning.
I plan on going to an interesting mall- it looks like a skew needle. It is quite far from here- but who doesn't enjoy a walk at -20? :))) (maybe I should take a cab after all).
It is so good to relax a bit- I think that I will come with a lot of new energy after these days!
I've spent my last evening watching 2 episodes from "The Master and Margarita"- a Russian serial made after the so well-known novel. It's quite interesting!
We play against China today:

2	ROMANIA		-	5	CHINA
1	IM	Foisor Cristina Adela	2401	:	WGM	Ju Wenjun	2505
2	WGM	Cosma Elena Luminita	2336	:	WGM	Tan Zhongyi	2471
3	WGM	Lami Alina	2353	:	WGM	Guo Qi	2435
4	WGM	Voicu-Jagodzinsky Carmen	2281	:	IM	Shen Yang	2415

It will be an interesting and in the same time difficult match. The last time the Romanian women's team played against the China's one-it was a 2-2, in the last round of the Olympiad in 2008, in Dresden. I was still playing for Moldova that time, but I remember following that match with a great interest.

All in all, I wish good luck to the girls and I will keep my fingers crossed!