The weather was absolutely terrible today, I got soaked while out for dinner with a friend. At least dinner was very entertaining - my friend told me all the latest news about her ever-changing love life. And the cheesecake was outstanding! I was out last night as well. It's quite unusual for me to be out for two evenings in the row since I decided to get better at chess. Last night I was at the residents' meeting organised at one of my neighbour's flats. I've been living in my flat for two years and still haven't met most of the neighbours in the other 17 flats. Some of you may get surprised how I managed not to meet many of my neighbours before, but I find it difficult to knock on people's doors and initiate conversations with complete strangers. On the other hand, I'm quite happy to chat with almost anyone if they approach me first. The meeting turned out to be a good laugh, maybe because there were mainly women and most of them drinking wine. I felt a bit sorry for the two guys, especially when conversation turned to a discussion about some handsome plumber who provided services to several flats. He was supposed to fix something in one of the flats the next day - I hope he got out of there alive...
I did reasonably well in the Golders Green rapidplay on Saturday and I really enjoyed the day. I always seem to do much worse in rapidplays than in slow plays because I hardly ever play in rapidplays, but I certainly intend to change that. This time I got 3 out of 6 (+2,=2,-2) in the Open section, but I'm a little unsure about my rating performance. I think I performed at roughly 165-175 ECF rating, but I will know for sure when the tournament table is published on the Golders Green rapidplay website. My last recorded ECF rapidplay rating was 133 in 2008, so I'm pleased I did much better this time. I also enjoyed chatting to several chess players and was particularly touched by a very old man who, after watching me lose a complicated first game, told me that I played very well for a girl. I couldn't help but burst out a sound of shocked laugh - I guess it's a natural reaction to what appeared to be a sexist comment, but I quickly realised he didn't mean it in that way and meant it rather as a compliment. He won me over even more when he said that he liked Russian literature like Tolstoy and Chekhov, and especially when he asked if I was a grandmaster. Very sweet :) I almost felt bad to disappoint him that I'm quite far from achieving that.
I'll wrap up with some other good news. I got tickets to see Stereophonics and Arctic Monkeys! Stereophonics is one of my favourite bands and Kelly Jones is a great singer live. Besides all the guys in the band look quite nice. I couldn't find my favourite Stereophonics song in good quality on YouTube, but here is another good one for you live: Devil I've never seen Arctic Monkeys live, but wanted to for several years. If their gig is going to be anything like what I'd seen on TV, then it will be great. Here is one of their very good songs: Brainstorm Arctic Monkeys are from Sheffield and Stereophonics are from Wales. I've been to Sheffield many times in the past year because of work and I've even grown to like Yorkshire accent. I actually like many different English accents. Scottish and London accents are probably my favourite at the moment.
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Friday, 11 September 2009
Cats and Birds
It's the start of the new chess season for team competitions and I'm looking forward to catching up with friends, some of whom I haven't seen since the spring. I'm also looking forward to one of the great 4NCL traditions followed by many teams - Indian curry dinners! 4NCL is the British team league in case you don't know. I currently play for two teams: for Hackney in the top London league and for Betsson.com in the top division of 4NCL. I've also been recently invited to play in the Surrey Border and Berkshire Leagues for Sandhurst CC, but won't be able to make their September matches. I wonder if I'm taking on too much!
It's still 2.5 weeks to go before the start of my sabbatical and currently I mostly work from home. Earlier this week my work was briefly disturbed by a noisy commotion in my garden. I came outside to find that my 8.5 year old slightly overweight cat somehow managed to catch a pigeon! There were feathers flying everywhere. Not quite sure how I managed to rescue the poor pigeon and lock my cat inside. But then I became very worried that the pigeon won't be able to fly again as he kept pacing around the garden not flying anywhere. He also ignored the bread I tried to feed him. He must have been in a state of shock, but after about 10 minutes he took off. He was lucky, as I'd already found a small dead bird in my conservatory earlier in the summer...
My cat is a girl called Koozya. Russian speakers among you would be a bit surprised about this because Koozya is a male name, but I liked it! She's definitely become a bit more active since I've put her on the diet a few months ago, even though her age is now equivalent to 50 human years! She's on the diet because I don't want her to get diabetes or other serious health conditions. Here she is - my gorgeous, loving cat with murderous tendencies:
She's very good at chess too - she just throws pieces off the table early in the morning to wake me up, so that I feed her. She's a bit obsessed with food, so no wonder she's trying to supplement her dinners from outside. I know what's going to be next on her menu - she's been eyeing up the local grey squirrel for quite a while. I'd rather she kills off all spiders in the flat.
And finally, I'm playing in the Golders Green rapidplay tomorrow. I don't even have a rapidplay rating because I haven't been playing in these kind of tournaments for ages. I'll let you know how I get on in a couple of days.
It's still 2.5 weeks to go before the start of my sabbatical and currently I mostly work from home. Earlier this week my work was briefly disturbed by a noisy commotion in my garden. I came outside to find that my 8.5 year old slightly overweight cat somehow managed to catch a pigeon! There were feathers flying everywhere. Not quite sure how I managed to rescue the poor pigeon and lock my cat inside. But then I became very worried that the pigeon won't be able to fly again as he kept pacing around the garden not flying anywhere. He also ignored the bread I tried to feed him. He must have been in a state of shock, but after about 10 minutes he took off. He was lucky, as I'd already found a small dead bird in my conservatory earlier in the summer...
My cat is a girl called Koozya. Russian speakers among you would be a bit surprised about this because Koozya is a male name, but I liked it! She's definitely become a bit more active since I've put her on the diet a few months ago, even though her age is now equivalent to 50 human years! She's on the diet because I don't want her to get diabetes or other serious health conditions. Here she is - my gorgeous, loving cat with murderous tendencies:
And finally, I'm playing in the Golders Green rapidplay tomorrow. I don't even have a rapidplay rating because I haven't been playing in these kind of tournaments for ages. I'll let you know how I get on in a couple of days.
Tuesday, 8 September 2009
Chocolate Chess
I don't really have an addictive personality, but perhaps my only addiction is chocolate. Even my ICC handle is "Shokoladka", which is Russian for chocolate. Maybe abundance of fine chocolate in Switzerland is the real reason I'm going to play chess there in October :)
Chess pieces should be made out of fine white and milk chocolate and covered in transparent wrappers, so that chocolate doesn't melt in your hands while playing chess. And when you capture an opponent's pawn or a piece you'd have a pleasure of eating it! :) I think most girls would agree with my idea. And the guys would probably opt for a drinking-game chess set. But alcohol is certainly not good for your brain power, unlike chocolate with its multitude of good qualities. I think the recent incident with GM Tkachiev proves the former. But I do feel sorry for him as well as for the people who witnessed it. I hope he mentally recovers from it and turns his addiction to chocolate instead!
Chess players often seem to have addictive personalities. Some get addicted to the ICC, some to smoking and most to coffee. Personally, I much prefer tea. Besides, coffee is vile in most playing venues. However, I don't find that tea keeps me sufficiently alert. My favourite energy drink during long play chess games is Lucozade. And it comes in different flavours, so I don't get too bored. The slight problem is that Lucozade isn't sold absolutely everywhere, so I always have to carry one around with me. The other problem - I don't particularly like fizzy drinks, but I haven't found anything better yet. I also drink water to keep hydrated during my games, otherwise you can get a headache and it's the last thing you'd want in a complicated position!
Before I discovered Lucozade I occasionally used ProPlus (back in the university days preparing for exams) and Red Bull. However, those things have too much caffeine and when their effect ends the next day I end up totally exhausted, unable to do anything. So now I avoid ProPlus and Red Bull like a plague! Anyway, I wonder how many chess players consider their choice of drink for chess as seriously as me... I'll bore you with my diet some other time. Yes, I eat more than just chocolate.
Chess pieces should be made out of fine white and milk chocolate and covered in transparent wrappers, so that chocolate doesn't melt in your hands while playing chess. And when you capture an opponent's pawn or a piece you'd have a pleasure of eating it! :) I think most girls would agree with my idea. And the guys would probably opt for a drinking-game chess set. But alcohol is certainly not good for your brain power, unlike chocolate with its multitude of good qualities. I think the recent incident with GM Tkachiev proves the former. But I do feel sorry for him as well as for the people who witnessed it. I hope he mentally recovers from it and turns his addiction to chocolate instead!
Chess players often seem to have addictive personalities. Some get addicted to the ICC, some to smoking and most to coffee. Personally, I much prefer tea. Besides, coffee is vile in most playing venues. However, I don't find that tea keeps me sufficiently alert. My favourite energy drink during long play chess games is Lucozade. And it comes in different flavours, so I don't get too bored. The slight problem is that Lucozade isn't sold absolutely everywhere, so I always have to carry one around with me. The other problem - I don't particularly like fizzy drinks, but I haven't found anything better yet. I also drink water to keep hydrated during my games, otherwise you can get a headache and it's the last thing you'd want in a complicated position!
Before I discovered Lucozade I occasionally used ProPlus (back in the university days preparing for exams) and Red Bull. However, those things have too much caffeine and when their effect ends the next day I end up totally exhausted, unable to do anything. So now I avoid ProPlus and Red Bull like a plague! Anyway, I wonder how many chess players consider their choice of drink for chess as seriously as me... I'll bore you with my diet some other time. Yes, I eat more than just chocolate.
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