It's time to melt!

     Here I am- back to the "virtual life"!
     I haven't updated my blog for quite a long time and for no particular reason- not much inspiration left after playing chess daily I guess :))
     Many games and tournaments are behind and I am in Chisinau for a week or two, trying to relax before another month full of chess... It's unbelievable how hot it can be here- it feels like the global warming has become a huge issue- it's just crazy! I am stuck home, sitting under the AC, not tempting the fate by going out at 38 Celsius degrees...
     Anyhow, I have a lot to think about, the European Individual Women's Championship was very eventful. I had a lot of crazy games, wining positions which I lost and vice versa. I finished the tournament on the 20th place, being the 30+ seed, which was quite well, though not good enough to qualify to the World Cup (only 14 places were eligible for that).
     I played another rapid tournament and a classic one afterwards... My rating is getting again closer and closer to 2400, though never close enough :D I have already stopped checking it, though some extra conditions at tournaments have used to be quite a motivation. These Elo points get lost so quickly and never hurry to come back...
     I can't wait for the next chess marathon to begin! I will play in 3 nice Opens in Greece, 2 of them on Crete and another one in Kavala. Greek beaches are by far my favorites! I love drinking frappes under the umbrella and then going for a swim in the fantastically clear blue sea! I guess my skin color might change quite a lot this summer :D

Carpe Diem friends!

I urgently need another ice-cream to survive this day :D


xoxo from Chisinau ;)

The "Cabernet Street"

Playing vs the tournament winner- GM Sergei Zhigalko

     It's spring and my mood is perfectly described by this! :D
     I had a couple of very interesting weeks, first, while playing the "Chebanenko Memorial" in Chisinau and then playing the last match with my team in Bundesliga.
     Let's take it one by one.
     The "Chebanenko Memorial" has already become a strong traditional rapid tournament in Chisinau, Moldova. It saw the light thanks to GM Viorel Bologan- the strongest Moldavian GM ever and a person for whom I have a deep respect, both for his chess accomplishments and his personality. It is well known that Veaceslav Chebanenko was "the coach of all Moldavians", including the above mentioned Viorel. The Rossolimo, the Slav with 4...a6 are only some of his "inventions".

A little speech during the wine tasting

     It is great that there's a tournament which pays honor to his name and I am very happy that I participated in this event. I didn't show my best chess there, nevertheless I took the 1st women prize.
It was a great feeling for me to play in the club where I practically grew up.
     The non chess part of the event was very nice as well. Moldavian people are well known for their hospitality and I believe they showed it once again. There was a very nice excursion organized to the "Cricova Winery Cellars". We walked along the "Cabernet Street", the "Chardonnay Street"...
     They say that Moldova has the best wines and women... I guess I'm not an objective judge, but one should definitely put Moldova on his travel list in order to test it!

     As about the Bundesliga part- I think it deserves a separate post, so- to be continued...
     

Ukrainian Spring Waltz

GM Hou Yifan

     Spring has started with a very interesting event to follow- Women's World Chess Championship
Match in Lviv, Ukraine.
     It is one of the most awaited "clash of titans" for me- GM Mariya Muzychuk (2563) vs GM Hou Yifan (2667). I think that none of the latest crown matches were as interesting as this one.
     I've known Mariya for many, many years, as we were constant opponents at the European and World Youth Championships. Coming from a chess family, it was no surprise that she was always among the best ones in her age group. Lots of hard work, ambition and preparation- will it be enough to keep the crown?
     On the other hand, her opponent- the Chinese Hou Yifan is no doubt the strongest woman in chess at this moment, competing successfully on top men's level. I admire her very calm and seemingly "easy" way of playing high level chess.
     I am no oracle, but if I would be, I'm not sure whom I'd place my bets on.


     Round 1

     The first round was a calm draw in a Giuoco Piano. The Chinese had no problems in equalizing with black and the draw was agreed as early as move 31.
     I am sure that both sides have their own strategy for the match and the 1st game might have seemed less ambitious only because of this. I think it was some sort of tapping and getting to know how's the opponent feeling and what's her current form.
     It was interesting for me to observe how Mariya's behavior during the game has changed. If she was usually very intense and even had some nervous tics like tapping with her legs, it was a completely different player I saw now. She had a smiling, confident and seemingly relaxed look for the whole game.

Mariya Muzychuk (left) vs Hou Yifan (right)

 
     The 2nd round will start at 3pm local time, though we'll be able to follow it only a half hour later due to the anti cheating measures.
     I am curious- what's Ukrainians' strategy with black in this match? We will know in a few hours!


P.S. I hope that the quality of broadcasting will be better today, as there were a lot of problems to be fixed yesterday...

(Photos taken from the official site of the event: lviv2016.fide.com )

"Chessy" New Year

     First of all, I would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year, full of accomplishments and everything each of you wants!
     I spent the New Year as a real chess player- on the road, on my way back from a tournament in Austria. It went well for me until the last round, where I felt it was the moment to play some mad chess :)) If I would win, I could share the 1st place, a thing which was very appealing... Unfortunately, I took too many risks and eventually- I lost that game.
     Anyhow, I enjoyed my stay there, it was the first time I played in Austria and I'm looking forward for coming back at some point. The trip back was very funny, mainly because it wasn't me the one who had to drive and I could enjoy watching fireworks in each city we passed in the company of a friendly bottle of Jager :D
     I already have a lot of plans for 2016, mainly chess related ones.
     My first tournament will be Moscow Open. I have played there for several times and despite the very cold weather I enjoyed it every year. It is one of the very few Ladies Opens with good prizes and I find it very interesting.

That's all for now, I will come back with more news very soon, as I had a project I worked on and it should be published very soon!


Once again, Happy New Year to everyone and may all your starts be inspired!


xoxo from Timisoara ;)

Warm Bundes Evenings

     Here I am, back to Romania, after yet another very nice days spent in Germany, at Bundesliga.
     I have already played for 5 years in the German Club Championship and somehow I associate the cold part of the year with warm evenings spent with my team.

From right to left: Ekaterina Atalik, Karina Ambartsumova, Deimante Daulyte, Nino Batsiashvili, Alina Kashlinskaya and me

     I have always dreamed to be a part of a team where everyone's friends and no one puts a smile on her face secretly hoping you'd lose. Yes, that's the sad thing about many women (can't say about men) teams. I don't know about others, but I am quite emotional during tournaments, during most of the tournaments, Bundesliga is an exception. I am so calm and just happy to be there that I never ever get adrenaline rushes :)) I just enjoy my chess and get pleasure from simply playing my games.
     I know that no matter of the result, a very nice evening will follow with  the super optimistic Karina always making jokes, with Deimante laughing so enchanting that you can't help laughing yourself as well, with Alina's existential questions which eventually end up with another hard laughing, with "the machine's"- Nino's tired faces which usually provoke another joke from Karina and the evening wouldn't be complete without the very elegant Katya whose outfits are a pleasure for any eyes.
     Our team has of course many more strong and beautiful players, though this is the formula of the matches I usually get to play.
     Jokes, laughing, tasty dinners and wine- perfect team spirit and the formula of our good results!
     Enjoy some photos from this weekend made by Thomas Marschner:

A proper motivational talk, from left to right: Alina Kashlinskaya, Ekaterina Atalik, me and Nino Batsiashvili

The first match won by us, with me drawing vs Zoya Schleining

A totally wild game where I sacrificed 4 pawns vs Ketino Kachiani-Gersinska (Baden Baden team) and somehow managed to win. The match ended in our favour!

The last game which I won vs Manuela Mader with our team winning as well!

If you thought we're all watching some chess, you're wrong- it's Alina's wedding photos!

     I am very happy to be a part of the "Schwäbisch Hall" team and I'm looking forward for more warm evenings like the ones I always have at Bundesliga!



xoxo from Romania ;)

Reykjavik Lights

From left to right: Mihaela Sandu,Victor Bologan, me and Luminita Cosma

     A bit more than a week has passed since I came back from the European Team Chess Championship in Reykjavik, Iceland. I have to confess that it felt more like a month :))) I will tell you why a bit later. Let's get back to the Europeans first.
     Our result as a team was not so bad- 10th place, we've completed our minimal goal, though after the first half of the tournament our hopes aimed much higher... I started with 3/4 and it should have been even 4/4 if to look at the positions I got, the team was also doing very well sharing the 3rd place. The problems started after we lost the match to Ukraine in the 5th round. Somehow none of us could pull herself together to play the chess we played at the beginning of the tournament...

     All in all, it was an interesting experience- visiting Iceland, though- frankly speaking, I didn't have much time to enjoy its sites. It was too cold for long walks and too expensive for cabs :)) The thing I liked the most was the fantastic quality of still water and the closing ceremony, which was fun and very well organized. Hm... Yes, besides that- Iceland has left me with a somewhat bitter taste.


     The Romanian Rapid and Blitz Championships followed shortly after our return from Reykjavik. The host was the beautiful city I've never been to before- Cluj. I really enjoyed taking walks through the old center, admiring its beauty and lively people. The tournaments were neither bad nor good for me, a silver medal at rapid and a bronze one at blitz. Both of them were really close to being gold, but an a bit odd coefficient wasn't on my side at rapid and a lost game in the 8th round took the 1st place away from me at blitz.
     That's the way November came and passed for me and I can hardly believe that it's already December and Christmas is just around the corner... One more tournament awaits for me this year- an open in Austria and then... God knows :)))
     Here are some photos from the Rapid & Blitz in Cluj (courtesy to https://www.facebook.com/young.chess.7?fref=ts) :

Playing vs WGM Irina Ionescu

Always tough games vs IM Corina Peptan

From left to right- IM Corina Peptan, me and WGM Irina Ionescu

   
      Two more medals were added to my collection and a busy December has started!



xoxo from Romania ;)
     

November Thoughts

     A lot of  time has passed with me not writing...

     The truth is that there have been some interesting weeks since the Romanian League ended. With the European Team Championship in Iceland coming up, it was time to prepare a bit for it. Said- done!

     I tried myself in a new posture after that. I joined GM Dorian Rogozenco in commenting the games from the Kings' Tournament, Romania-Germany match. It was a really nice experience which I really enjoyed.
     It looked for me that it's an easy job- to do some live commenting, write a round report, interview the players... Well, it turned out that it's not as easy as it seemed. Of course, it is a pleasant job- observing others' mistakes instead of making them in your own game :))), but it's a very thorough work, finding and pointing out the critical moments in each game, trying to understand what was in each player's mind in those moments. It is also needed to show some tact in the commentaries, putting aside your own emotions. I cheered for the Romanian team and I was sad of course when they were losing a match, but I had to keep by objectivity, or at least try to, in each round's report which, by the way, had some serious work behind it... All the players were professional GMs and there were many theoretical lines they played I had not much knowledge about and in order not to look 'stupid' in the commentaries I had to do some research about them.
    What can I say? Being a commentator was very good for me, I learned a lot of new ideas and lines, I enjoyed finding out the way GMs think during the game and I concluded that even though there's still a lot for me to learn in chess, each GM is human and they are quite beatable!
     I've also started to miss a bit playing chess myself and I am very eager to be back to the game at the ETCC in Reykjavik!


Wish you all a nice and peaceful Sunday!