Resistance

     It is the 6th round today.

Me during the 3rd round

     I've got 2,5p out of 5 so far. It's quite good- I won against the lower rated opponents and lost against the higher rated ones- yesterday's game was an exception- I managed to make a draw against GM Gritsak Orest (2539) with black :) I suffered in an endgame with a pawn down, but I didn't want to lose at all and I guess that Caissa was on my side. You can see the game here:


     There are 2 players with 4,5p out of 5- Moiseenko Alexander and Shengelia David- they're playing against each other today.
      The  Romanian who's got the most of points is Constantin Lupulescu, with 4p out of 5. He's got a tough game today, playing against Grachev Boris.

6	7	54		GM	LUPULESCU Constantin	2634	4		4	GM	GRACHEV Boris	2687		19
6	29	102		GM	PARLIGRAS Mircea-Emilian	2570	3½		3½	GM	HRACEK Zbynek	2628		57
6	37	112		GM	JIANU Vlad-Cristian	2555	3		3	GM	NEPOMNIACHTCHI Ian	2710		4
6	39	126		GM	YILMAZ Mustafa	2537	3		3	GM	NISIPEANU Liviu-Dieter	2679		21
6	63	142		IM	ARDELEAN George-Catalin	2510	2½		2½	GM	CHEPARINOV Ivan	2700		12
6	81	199		WGM	BULMAGA Irina	2393	2½		2½	IM	PRIZANT Jaroslav	2537		127
6	82	201		IM	MANEA Alexandru	2389	2½		2½	GM	ZOLER Dan	2533		129
6	93	211		IM	PETRISOR Adrian-Marian	2378	2		2	IM	MATINIAN Nikita	2491		152
6	101	175		IM	ANTON Teodor	2441	2		2	IM	VUILLEUMIER Alexandre	2319		224
6	109	259			DEAC Bogdan-Daniel	2183	2		2	IM	ARNGRIMSSON Dagur	2390		200
6	122	271			ULANOWSKI Karol	2091	1½		1½		STANCIU Alexandru-Ovidiu	2335		220
6	129	219		FM	POSEDARU Bogdan	2339	1		1		POGOSIAN Vladimir	2132		267

     It is interesting to note that Efimenko Zahar dropped off the tournament with 1,5 p out of 5, after he suffered another loss yesterday. It is a very tough event for everyone and every half point is golden.
     There's the rule of no draws until the move 41 applied here, so it makes the games even more hard fought.
     I play against a Russian IM today- Prizant Jaroslav (2537). I have finally got white against a strong player and I hope to use it well.
     You can follow the live games on the official site of the event: http://en.eicc2013.pl/index.php/live where you can also find a nice photo and video gallery: http://en.eicc2013.pl/index.php/gm
     As about Legnica- the city is very enjoyable, with a lot of parks and nice streets to take walks. You can see some photos here:

Anna Warakomska, Katerina Pavlidou and me ( from right to left)

Katerina and Anna

Anna Iwanow, Anna Warakomska and Katerina Pavlidou

     There are only 2 more games until the free day and I hope to be in a good mood by that time :)

xoxo from Legnica ;)

152 Moves

     Here it is- the morning before the 3rd round.
     I managed to win yesterday and I'm playing against Pap Gyula today- a Hungarian GM.
     It was a very  interesting round yesterday- the encounter on the 1st board between Merab Gagunashvili and Evgeny Tomashevsky  lasted for more than 6 hours and 152 moves, but Tomashevsky didn't manage to convert his pawn up and the game ended in a draw.
     You can follow the first 72 games live, every day at 3 pm local time, on the official site of the event: http://en.eicc2013.pl/index.php/live
     There are 33 players with a perefct 2/2 score:

1	61		GM	DUBOV Daniil	2622	2		2	GM	ARESHCHENKO Alexander	2709		5
2	63		GM	SARIC Ivan	2622	2		2	GM	KOROBOV Anton	2705		7
3	8		GM	ELJANOV Pavel	2702	2		2	GM	TKACHIEV Vladislav	2632		55
4	69		GM	GRIGORYAN Avetik	2616	2		2	GM	MOISEENKO Alexander	2698		13
5	15		GM	ALMASI Zoltan	2695	2		2	GM	LENIC Luka	2621		64
6	19		GM	GRACHEV Boris	2687	2		2	GM	ROIZ Michael	2617		68
7	27		GM	RAGGER Markus	2666	2		2	GM	RAKHMANOV Aleksandr	2616		70
8	29		GM	ZHIGALKO Sergei	2660	2		2	GM	KHALIFMAN Alexander	2614		71
9	31		GM	KHAIRULLIN Ildar	2657	2		2	GM	PASHIKIAN Arman	2603		76
10	73		GM	VOLKOV Sergey	2610	2		2	GM	IVANISEVIC Ivan	2655		32
11	41		GM	MAMEDOV Rauf	2649	2		2	GM	YILMAZ Mustafa	2537		126
12	85		GM	NYBACK Tomi	2593	2		2	GM	PETROSIAN Tigran L.	2645		44
13	95		GM	GRIGORIANTS Sergey	2579	2		2	GM	LYSYJ Igor	2641		46
14	47		GM	ROMANOV Evgeny	2640	2		2	IM	KREISL Robert	2380		209
15	117		GM	SANIKIDZE Tornike	2549	2		2	GM	SHIMANOV Aleksandr	2639		48
16	119		GM	SHENGELIA David	2546	2		2	GM	POSTNY Evgeny	2637		50
17	131		GM	GORDON Stephen J	2527	2		1½	GM	JAKOVENKO Dmitry	2731		1

     I want to have a good game today and to score. I miss the feeling of winning against a strong player :P
     You can see my yesterday's game here:

     I hope that the next post will be very optimistic and full of joy! :D

xoxo from Legnica! ;)

1st Round

      The 1st round couldn't pass without some surprises.
      The nr.1 favourite- Dmitry Jakovenko couldn't win against the Polish IM- Duda Jan.

1

144

IM

DUDA Jan-Krzysztof

2506

0

½ - ½

0

GM

JAKOVENKO Dmitry

2731

1

      The nr. 6 seed- Akopian Vladimir made a draw against GM Trator Marko.

6

6

GM

AKOPIAN Vladimir

2705

0

½ - ½

0

GM

TRATAR Marko

2498

149

     The nr. 1 Romanian player- Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu suffered a defeat against IM Pacher Milan (2470) of Croatia.

20

21

GM

NISIPEANU Liviu-Dieter

2679

0

0 - 1

0

IM

PACHER Milan

2470

163

     Here are the results of all the Romanians in the 1st round: http://chess-results.com/tnr95789.aspx?art=25&fedb=ROU&lan=11&fed=ROU&flag=30&wi=821

     I lost unfortunately. I had very good chances- receiving a nice position after the opening, but I got too optimistic afterwards and sacrificied a pawn- which didn't lead to anything good. You can see my game here:

     Here are some photos I took today, during my morning walk through the rainy Legnica:

Grigoryan Avetik and Danielian Elina of Armenia also taking a walk 

"Welcome to the Hotel California/ Such a lovely place..." Well, it's actually "Kamieniczka"- but lovely anyways :P

     I play against a lower rated player today, again from Czech Republic- Pavlicek Miroslav (2014). I hope to have a good game and to win :)

Will keep you posted!

xoxo from Legnica!

Legnica

     It is a very nice day. Unlike in Romania, where the summer has already stated it's rights, the reigning queen in Poland is spring.
     The atmosphere is really nice here- the hotel where I'm staying is small and cosy, surrounded by beautiful parks. Everything is just perfect for chess- no worries, no stress, beautiful weather and nature. All I need is to focus and try my best during the games, which I surely intend to do.
     Here you can see some views from Legnica:

     I have black against Hracek Zbynek today- a GM (2628) from the Czech Republic. I hope to have a good game!
     You can follow the pairings and the results here: http://chess-results.com/tnr95789.aspx?art=2&rd=1&lan=11&flag=30&wi=821

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

xoxo from Legnica!

Soul's Scream

     Emptiness- undoubtable, profound emptiness.
     Feeling so empty that you'd wish you could just fall asleep forever and you'd never feel so bare-souled again.
     You stare at yourself in the mirror and you see nothing but an emotionless face- a common face that doesn't tell you anything.
     God left me this face- He made it to be happy; He made my eyes to see Him; He made my ears to hear His call; He lended me a soul-a map to find my path to Him one day... My steps should have brought me to Him, but I lost my map on the way and I'm just a rambling self now.
     There's a map somewhere in one's hands and he can't read it because it's not his own one- it's a map he received as a reward and wanting it too much it turned into a curse. Reading the map had become an obsession to him and when he thought he knew the key- the map turned against him- it didn't want to be read anymore; the treasure he thought he'd find was lost for him forever. A flame appeared from nowhere and it burned the map he was holding in his hands.
      He's got nothing but ashes- ashes that he'll never be able to wash from his hands. They're invisible, but once you'd touch the skin on his hand- your own one will become grey- a grey which will follow him forever because it simply wasn't in his power to find they key to a map.

Sweet Emotion

     There's this feeling I get every time right before a tournament. I am excited and worried in the same time. I hope that it will be a good tournament for me and in the same time, I'm afraid it could go wrong. This feeling usually lasts until I make the 1st move and then everything goes away.
     I will travel to Bucharest tomorrow night and then, I'll have a flight to Berlin, where the organizers will pick us and take to Legnica. The 1st round is on the 5th of May.
     There are a lot of Romanians playing in the European Individual Championship (12):

21   GM    NISIPEANU Liviu-Dieter ROU 2679
54   GM    LUPULESCU Constantin ROU 2634
103 GM    PARLIGRAS Mircea-Emilian ROU 2570
113 GM    JIANU Vlad-Cristian ROU 2555
144 IM     ARDELEAN George-Catalin ROU 2510
181 IM     ANTON Teodor ROU 2441
205 WGM BULMAGA Irina ROU 2393
208 IM     MANEA Alexandru ROU 2389
218 IM     PETRISOR Adrian-Marian ROU 2378
226 FM    POSEDARU Bogdan ROU 2339
227           STANCIU Alexandru-Ovidiu ROU 2335
267           DEAC Bogdan-Daniel ROU 2183

     I can't wait for the tournament to begin! It's going to be the toughest event I'll take part at this year. I am nr. 205 from 298!  You can see the starting ranking list here: http://chess-results.com/tnr95789.aspx?art=0&lan=11&fedb=ROU&flag=30&wi=821&zeilen=99999



Will keep you posted!