Call of the Alpes

     My chess summer has begun and what better place for it to begin than in France!
     It is really nice here, in Vaujany, surrounded by mounatains and waterfalls. One can wish for nothing else, it is the perfect spot for a chess tournament!
     Many Romanians have come here, I don't know if it's about some "Call of the Alpes", or maybe it's just us trying to escape from the super hot Romanian summer, anyways it feels just fantastic to be here!
    

The playing hall

      Moreover, I have rediscovered an old passion of mine- ping-pong. That's the best preparation for the games and the best way to relax after them ;)

Tough match vs IM Lucian Filip

     Here you can find the link for the tournament: http://www.echecs.asso.fr/FicheTournoi.aspx?Ref=33004


    Wish you all a fantastic summer, and stay tuned for more news from France!


     xoxo from Vaujany ;)

Summer Breeze

     These long summer days with their lazy breeze... With the eyes barely opened and the hot sun fondling my skin I dream about, hm, about- well, I actually live my dream!
     The days of me being a professional chess player have finally come, no more University concerns, no more chains holding me back, I live the life I've always dreamed of. What a fantastic feeling, waking up and not being sure if I still dream or this really is my life :D
     Ah, I've remembered, our team- "Politehnica Iasi" has become the new Romanian Rapid Club Cup winner as well! Not a bad start of the summer season, right? ;)

 

Team "Politehnica Iasi": Vlad and Andrei Ungureanu, Alina l'Ami, Vasile Manole, myself, Vladimir Danilov, Ioana Gelip (photo credits: https://thinkingsquares.wordpress.com/)

     A short trip to the UK has opened my unchained phase of life! It was so nice to see my sister and to spend quality time together! The chess part of the trip was not the best one, but it was not the main goal, so there's not much to complain about :)
     Many tournaments and many dreams coming true are ahead and I can finally say that I am happy! You can envy me for having a job which is actually the thing I love the most- playing chess while traveling around the World! Right now I envy a bit myself so I'll try to make this feeling last as much as possible ;)
     While closing my eyes and letting the sun invade my thoughts, here are some pictures that bring the smile on my face every time I see them:

     Peace and a fantastic summer to all of you!


xoxo from my dreams! ;)

Cool Grandmother

     While living at its fullest my last days as a student- with exams day by day and trying to finish my thesis in the unbearably hot Romanian summer, I catch myself imagining my life after all of these will end...
     I want to believe that many years of playing chess are ahead of me, many tournaments, lots of training, many wins... I wonder for how long I am going to enjoy this stuff, 5 years, 10 years, 2 decades, all my life? I really hope for it to be so. I hope to live long enough in order to be the cool grandmother who participates at Veteran Championships and tells her grandchildren about the adventures of a lifetime of being a chess player!
     I remember once laughing with my friends about us being 65, gathering all our "gang of WGM" at a Veteran World  Championship and having the time of our lives while coming all so pretty to the games, eying the U55 guys :))) Well, joke apart, I want to be that kind of  grandmother, the one with whom kids want to go out to listen to her stories... Maybe I could even teach them how to play chess, if it will survive 40 more years...
     Forgive me for this strange post, the source of this thoughts was the recently watched trailer of a chess movie, with a chess player starring. You can watch it here:


Bondoc Trailer from deFilm on Vimeo.

     Wish you all a nice end of week!


xoxo from Iasi ;)

Cheating and Ego Matters

     While studying hard for my final exams and having no time to throw away at all, I simply couldn't help myself expressing my deepest disgust about the situation where a few WGM's, ex World and European Champions and strong GMs amongst them, accused my colleague from the National Team- WGM Mihaela Sandu for cheating.

WGM Mihaela Sandu

     We have been colleagues and also opponents for quite a few years so far and I find this accusations very disturbing, not only for Mihaela herself, but for the chess community as well. She is a very dedicated player who loves playing and teaching chess. All the games we played against each other were very combative and fought until the last drop of blood. I have a high respect and consideration for Mihaela's chess.
     I understand that losing to a lower rated opponent can be quite frustrating, but I don't understand the need of being so paranoid and unprofessional. I find this whole situation simply outrageous and I want to point out that chess is not war and not all the means that can be used to win are ok. I used to think that professional chess players are very intelligent and highly sensible persons and as sportsmen they all demonstrate a high level of fair play. Well, I guess I couldn't be more wrong.
     I understand that we all want our rights to be respected, then why not respect the rights of others? I can understand the accusations made though I could never agree with them. I understand that with so many cheating cases around, one might get paranoid. What I don't understand is:

1. On what grounds could someone who didn't even get the chance to play against Mihaela accuse her?

2. Why the arbiter to whom the accusations were presented after the game finished didn't check Mihaela immediately in order to clarify the situation and avoid all this fuzz?

3. Why the organizers, after thoroughly having analyzed the situation and having come to the conclusion that there were no proof of any kind and the player was wrongly accused didn't take out those shameful signed letters from the walls of the playing hall? Why didn't they publicly apologize to Mihaela?

4. Why the organizers didn't give a warning to the player who clearly took advantage of this situation in order to put pressure on Mihaela before their game?


     Maybe some of you would think of this words to be somewhat harsh, but how do you think Mihaela felt with all this false accusations? How should I feel now as a professional chess player? Should I be afraid to play good chess and to win against stronger opponents? Does it mean that in 10 years I will be cataloged as an expired chess player who doesn't have the right to play strong? What is with all this nonsense?
     I am very disappointed that such kind of situations can happen nowadays and I hope that conclusions will be drawn and measures will be taken so that such unfair and abusing behavior would never happen again!

     Mihaela, all your friends and colleagues are with you, cheering for you and my admiration for your fighting spirit has only grown! Keep up the good work and I cross my fingers for you to keep offending those high egos!

Soul Food

     We all have good days and bad days but if you're having the latter- I highly recommend you to spend a day in a Botanical Garden!
     My day turned to be very nice despite the shady start. I had a very lovely afternoon walking down the beautiful alleys and admiring the inspiring nature. I don't know a better way of clearing my head then just walking, discovering beautiful gardens and thinking about anything but daily problems :)

     Here are some photos from my yesterday's walk, one which has reminded me that we are happy as long as we choose to be!

     Nature is beautiful! I hope you can try to remind yourself of this from time to time!


xoxo from Iasi

Faulty Note

     Each of us has his qualities, the sides of him he wants the World to see and to approve. Well, this post isn't about them, it's about our negative sides, the ones we try to hide from others and which we're very well aware- will make others judgmental.
     Though one knows his bad sides and he may work on making them disappear, I think it's not possible to achieve it without accepting and embracing them. I can't change all the things I don't like about myself, but I've learned not to be embarrassed of them.
      I show the side of me I like the least to the person I like the most because I want him to learn that I'm not ideal, nor I want to look like one. The best feeling I get  is when someone loves me for my defects, not for my qualities. I believe my bad sides are very much a part of me and it's a serious mistake to hide them from the ones I hold dear to.
     They may say "I've never expected THIS from YOU!". Well, I'm not ideal and it's my worst nightmare becoming so. I've embraced the things I dislike about myself and while I try to change some of them, the others I just love and I want them to stay this way, because they make others give me the higher quoted sentence and when I hear it, I just know that he is just too shallow or messed up in order to admit that neither people nor life is ideal.
     I don't want to have in my life people who think I'm faultless, I want the ones who love the things I like the least about myself!


     Now tell me, do you hide your defects from the ones you care the most?



xoxo from Iasi :)

Adrenaline Addict

     You make the 1st move, write it down with a trembling hand,waiting for your opponent's answer...

      I don't know for how many of you this feeling is familiar. I hope that it's not just me who has a fantastic adrenaline rush each time I play a game which I really want to win. Though I'm a quite calm person, the adrenaline pumping in my blood and making me shiver during a game isn't a thing I can control.
      This led me to the thought that I might be addicted to adrenaline. One might ask me if only playing chess gives me this rushes. Actually-no. I like driving on highways with 180 km/h with rock beats vibrating in the car. That's the main reason I don't want to get a driving license, don't want to call my friends and family asking them to stay home when I'm on the road :P
     So far, chess is the least dangerous way of getting adrenaline... Does it mean that I'm addicted? Might be true, though if it means playing chess all my life, doing the thing I love the most, it shouldn't be that bad, right?



xoxo from Iasi ;)