If you would like to travel, but feel unequal to learning at least one international language for the purpose, then play chess;) The ideal substitute for English, Spanish etc. at last has been found!
For our family, last weekend was a perfect opportunity to employ the reliable speech of chess without danger of going astray, in...Oostende!
Probably it would have taken us some time to reach this Flemish city if it wouldn't have been the universal language of chess. Even if Erwin was busy for a couple of hours with his simul, the reason for our city break, it doesn't mean we didn't enjoy every single bit of it! And you can see for yourself the upside of playing chess further on:
The Golden Sands tournament, held between 4th - 12th of June on Bulgarian seacoast, finished yeasterday, having as a sole winner the Chinese GM: Lu Shanglei, (born in '95)! The 7.5 points which the winner squeezed out of 9 games are even more impressive if we think about the rather tough starting list of the event: I could count more than 45 GM's and plenty of IM's, all fighting for the 6000 Euro first prize! I forgot since an Open tournament was as rough as this one but I guess it's fully justified by the generous prize fund which the organizers put at stake: more than 50000 Euro! 224 players attended the tournament, trying to get a prize or/and as much sun as the Bulgarian seaside resort had to offer:)
As for our family, it could have been better, it could have been worse. But we did enjoy the whole experience! While we are now waiting for our bus to come and bring us back to Romania, I decided to choose some pictures for you, to make a general impression on the tournament we just had.
Farewell pictures...
Congratulations to the winners and see you again for the jubileum (75th edition) in 2013!
Pictures from the last two rounds and a bonus: the chess struggles seen through Pia's eyes!
Days are flying, especially if you are in Wijk aan Zee, for the Tata Steel Chess Tournament. Don't ask me how and when, but it's almost round number 10! A lot of work and efforts are put into the games, so it's normal to have some free days, especially for such a long tournament of 13 rounds. Yesterday the players had the chance to relax, to recharge the batteries and, if they felt like, to join the organized excursion to The Hague! Let's see how it was:
Round 6
Wijk aan Zee is back, with its hard winds and unpleasant weather. Nevertheless, who cares?! We didn't come here to go on the beach, but to play our great game. Indoors! Not everybody agrees though, as you can see at the end of today's post...
Round 5!
After the well deserved rest and the traditional football match, it's time to get back on board and burn a few more neurons. To warm up, some players choose to enter in the 'chess zone' by solving Afek's daily challenge, with literally a couple of minutes before the game is supposed to start!
Wijk aan Zee
Free day in Tata Steel Chess tournament. Time to relax, recharge the batteries and move on. And because there are no games to follow today (yes, I know...I also regret that), let's take a tour around, to see where everything happens.
And more...
If your favourite player didn't make the winning move yet, you can spare your nerves by taking a look into today's photos!
More pictures from Wijk aan Zee!
Today's pictures: youngest, oldest and the ladies!
Many things have changed over the years in Wijk, contributing to the worldwide known atmosphere of this special tournament. But there is one detail, one tradition, which will stand forever, hopefully: hitting the gong! Let the 'fun' begin!
The Swedish Grandmaster Ulf Andersson was the one who did the honors today, announcing the start of the third round.
The games are still in the opening phase, so we can take a look into the 'theme' of today, as mentioned in the title:
Second round is ongoing and I cannot wait to go back to the livegames section. Before I do that, here are today's pictures:
First round pictures! Many interesting and decisive games from the very beginning - time is flying here...
I'll come back soon with a few more details on the photos you can enjoy right now.
In less than an hour, the first round in TataSteel Chess tournament will start! Get your computers ready to watch the live games, it will surely be as interesting as always! Meanwhile, you can take a look into the opening ceremonies of the A, B and C groups.
Click on the images to enlarge!
Back to my Dutch home: it's time to draw a few conclusions after the tournament which just finished. From 4th of July until 12th, I've been playing in Barbera del Valles, Spain, and, for the first time, I can say: well...it was not bad at all:) A GM norm and a plus of 48 elo points, is more than I could have dreamed of.
The Dutch Championship, held in Boxtel, from June 25th to 5th July, came to an end. Remarkable is the 2849 performance of the champion, your favourite: Anish Giri, with no less than 5 wins in a row, including the last round! In the women section, Zhaoqin Peng won convincingly, scoring 9 out of 10, 3 points ahead of the second place. Only Martine Middelveld, third place, managed to stop Zhaoqin's series of victories, with a win in the 7th round.
Smaranda, our 'spy', has sent us more photos!
The Dutch Championship is already on its second half, soon the sixth round will start later on today. Wouter Spoelman is leading with 4 out of 5 and, in the women section, Zhaoqin Peng is undefetead, with 6 out of 6! Women play a double round-robin tournament, so no rest day for them. But for men, yesterday, 1st of July, relaxation time was in the schedule.
Smaranda Padurariu, WIM, Jan Smeets' girlfriend and my friend, has sent us a big pictorial report from the competition. Thanks Sma!
Welcome to Bangkok! If New York City is known as "the city that never sleeps" in the United States, well in South East Asia it's twin sister is Bangkok, also known as KrungThep to the locals, which means "City of Angels". KrungThep is actually an abbreviated version of its full name, which has the world's longest name, according to Guiness Book of Records.
If yesterday I was telling you about the Thailand Open and how wonderful it was, today I will continue by presenting you the city which hosted the tournament: PATTAYA.
If you would like to travel, but feel unequal to learning at least one international language for the purpose, then play chess;) The ideal substitute for English, Spanish etc. at last has been found!
