A walk to repeat

     Here I am, in Olanesti, a small resort in Romania. The National Championship starts today, in some 2 hours. It's quite nice here. I like this place- it's small, quite, cosy. I'd say that it's the perfect place for a chess tournament. I like having walks and thinking about everything in the world. One has no worries here at all- just to show some good chess. I missed the tournament atmosphere- I haven't played a tournament since December, so I can say that it's the 1st tournament I play this year. It's nice to have so many friends around. This is the thing I like the most about the Romanian tournaments :)
     Here are some photos from my today's walk with Ioana Gelip:

"New sms?"

Hihi, everything is about chess, here's a bar called "The Rook"

     Here are the pairings for the first round:

1	17	WNM	Vasilescu Maria	1883	0		0	IM	Peptan Corina-Isabela	2443	1
2	2	IM	Foisor Cristina-Adela	2389	0		0	WCM	Morea Georgiana-Steluta	1870	18
3	19	I	Dobre Ana-Margareta-Alexandra	1851	0		0	WGM	Bulmaga Irina	2355	3
4	4	WGM	Cosma Elena-Luminita	2332	0		0	I	Bogdan Elizaveta	1829	20
5	21	WCM	Cirlig Ioana-Andreea	1777	0		0	WGM	Ionescu Irina	2253	5
6	6	WIM	Dragomirescu Angela	2235	0		0	I	Prunariu Ana-Maria	1769	22
7	23	I	Toma Elena-Adelaida	1722	0		0	WGM	Sandu Mihaela	2222	7
8	8	WIM	Foisor Mihaela-Veronica	2219	0		0	WCM	Stanciu Ioana-Georgiana	1716	24
9	25	I	Moldovan Petruta-Alisia	1712	0		0	WNM	Anusca Madalina-Maria	2070	9
10	10	WFM	Visanescu Daria-Ioana	2068	0		0	I	Porcoleanu Doina-Olga	1684	26
11	27	I	Nastase Andreea-Cristina	1651	0		0	WCM	Gelip Ioana	2017	11
12	13	WCM	Mathe Katalin	1989	0		0	I	Banciu Bianca-Gabriela	1591	28
13	29	I	Didiliuc Dariana-Gabriela	1573	0		0	WCM	Lolici Iselin-Amanda	1964	14
14	15	WCM	Cosman Andreea-Marioara	1944	0		0	I	Coman Emilia-Florentina	1542	30
15	31	I	Toma Andreea-Simona	1331	0		0	WNM	Olea Liliana	1926	16
16	12	WCM	Ilie Maria-Ruxandra	2003	0	0

     Gotta' go for my "coffee ritual" :D

xoxo from Olanesti ;)

Until 26th!

     Dear readers, I will post rarely, only if I will find some free time until the 26th of February, as I will participate at the Romanian Women's Chess Championship (16.02-25.02). It is an important event for me and  I hope I'll do my best. You may follow it on: http://chess-results.com/tnr92174.aspx?art=0&lan=11&wi=821
     Here's the Top 10 on the starting ranking list:

1	IM	Peptan Corina-Isabela	ROU	2443	Csm Bucuresti
2	IM	Foisor Cristina-Adela	ROU	2389	Cs Aem Luxten Timisoara
3	WGM	Bulmaga Irina	ROU	2355	Cs Politehnica Iasi
4	WGM	Cosma Elena-Luminita	ROU	2332	Acs De Sah Apa Nova Bucuresti
5	WGM	Ionescu Irina	ROU	2253	Csm Bucuresti
6	WIM	Dragomirescu Angela	ROU	2235	Cs Sinandrei Timis
7	WGM	Sandu Mihaela	ROU	2222	Cs Studentesc Medicina Timisoa
8	WIM	Foisor Mihaela-Veronica	ROU	2219	Css Nr. 1 Timisoara
9	WNM	Anusca Madalina-Maria	ROU	2070	Csm Bucuresti
10	WFM	Visanescu Daria-Ioana	ROU	2068	Clubul De Sah Deva

     Keep your fingers crossed for me!

The ever after

     All at once and never when you actually need it. Is it the basic principle of life?
     You wish to be alone and everyone keeps disturbing you, you want badly to talk to someone and there's no one seeming to care enough. We keep not saying what we want, maybe it would make it all easier- having no expectations from others and just telling them how you feel right now and what you really want. Here's the problem- "I want to be a child"- no one can  give it to  me; "I want not to care" - no one can give it to me either; " I want to be a champion"- no one... There will never be anyone who will make everything happen- you want something- do it by yourself. You want to be happy- be happy; you want to be loved- love yourself. Well, I might be a little subjective, but that's what we- humans are all about- we render.
      There used to be a sence, a goal, "the" truth- there's impossible, "so what" and "maybe" now. All these questions with no answer, all this people with no status- how to deal wiht it? The answer is so obvious- not to. You act like everything's fine, you make everyone believe you've got the answers and you burry it deep inside. You will start believing your lies at some point and it should give you the illusion of happinesss. I don't believe in happiness, I prefer not to - that'll mean there's an "I'm miserable" too...
      I believe in... What do I believe in? I don't believe in anything. What is there to believe in nowadays? The  higher purpose, the big epic love and happiness ever after, the life after death, the absolute power, karma?
   

Timing is everything

     Who could think that coming home to relax after exams would turn to be so crazy!
     Today has been a very unusual day. I had to run some errands for my parents at a bank- so I just went there to leave some documents yesterday. I had to pick them up today, just before lunch time. I was met by an "Oh, I forgot to give these documents to the manager so he could sign them and he has just left, could you come back in 2 hours?". I was stunned by the question. Doesn't time mean anything for her? Time is the most precious thing one's got! "It is surreal how one should wait for 2 hours, just so some bossy man would have his lunch, not to mention your total irresponsibility and incompetence!"- I said to the secretary. Would I have to work with these kind of people when I'll graduate from University? I am stuyding "Banks and Finances" after all... It was so frustrating her even not carrying! I lost my temper and asked her to give me a piece of paper, so I could write a complaint- I had to do something with that 2 hours, right? Oh, that was the moment when she took me serious. Did she think that a 19 yo young woman doesn't know anything about bank policies? I guess she will start taking other's time more serious from now on... It was quite funny to see her getting suddenly all apologetic. She called her boss- I guess that the magic word one has to use is "complaint". He came right away- turned out he was on his way to  lunch (I knew that! :)). He was actually cool and professional. He apologized, signed the papers and asked me if he could make it all up to me by taking me to lunch. That was a surprise and it turned to be a very pleasant one, as I accepted to go. I had a really nice time and moreover, got an internship offer!
     What to say- I guess timing is everything ;)

Brazilian sun in Plovdiv

Fier Alexandr

     The 35th Bulgarian International Open Chess Champonship- Georgi Tringov Memorial has ended today with a stratospheric 2808 performance of the Brazilian GM- Alexandr Fier, who scored an impressive 8,5 points out of 9.

Name	Fier Alexandr
Title	GM
Starting rank	3
Rating national	0
Rating international	2577
Ratingperformance	2808
FIDE rtg +/-	22.3
Points	8.5
Rank	1
Federation	BRA
Ident-Number	0
Fide-ID	2107139

      You can find the final standings here: http://chess-results.com/tnr91542.aspx?art=1&rd=9&lan=1&fed=BRA&flag=30&wi=821
      There is a funny story behind Alexandr's winning the tournament. He posted on his facebook page that he was very surprised to find out that he had to pay an entry fee when arriving in Plovdiv- a very unusual thing for GMs. Maybe it brought him luck :) Mhm, maybe I should volunteer to pay an entry fee at the upcoming Women's Nationals...

     With or without entry fee, I'd like to congratulate the winner and I'm looking forward to seeing the games in the next twik :)
     
   
     

Thank you

     Thank you for seeing who I really am and for not running away no matter what I'd tell you.
     Thank you for being so good at what you do and competing with me- it makes me strive for being better.
     Thank you for being there for me no matter what.
     Thank you for investing so much love and time in my becoming a good person.
     Thank you for hurting me, it made me become so much stronger.
     Thank you for believing in me when no one did.
     Thank you for defending me when you knew I was guilty.
     Thank you for being honest with me.
     Thank you for not being afraid to criticize me.
     Thank you for the greatest memories I've got.
     Thank you for listening to me.
     Thank you for keeping my secrets.
     Thank you for sharing with me all you've got.
     Thank you for not being afraid to be vulnerable when with me.
     Thank you for your envy.
     Thank you for your hatred.
     Thank you for your friendship.
     Thank you for your love.
 
A big "thank you" to the ones who are a part of my life. :)
 

Naiditsch-Adams

Arkadij Naiditsch

     Yet another interesting tournament is taking place in Baden-Baden these days, the "Grenke Chess Classic", with Anand Viswanathan, Caruana Fabiano, Michael Adams, Daniel Fridman, Arkadij Naiditsch and Georg Meier. It is a double round-robin, with 2 rounds played so far.
     The most interesting game of the yesterday's round was the one between Arkadij Naiditsch and Michael Adams. It had started as a classical strategic battle with the isolated "d" pawn for black and converted into a fine tactical game then. You can see it here:

     It was a very interesting 7 hours battle and I hope we'll see more games like this one!
     You can find more information on the official site of the tournament: http://www.grenkechessclassic.de/