When a Plate of Fried Rice Globetrotting 4 Countries in One Hour

Oh wow, my last post was in August 2013 *faints*... *gets up* I think if there was an award of who's the worst blogger in the world, yours truly would be the one. I don't know why but I found it's hard to get my feeling into blogging consistently despite all good times, great tournaments, exciting new countries and people, bad games, tiring trips, sleepless nights as an insomniac chess player, etc etc that are basically interesting to share with. Well well well, I'll try to keep you guys updated more regularly. And by regularly it doesn't mean once a year like what I've been apparently doing here *blushes*

To make stories short, if somehow you were wondering how this passion is back, maybe I should thank my super spicy homemade fried rice that I'm eating now while writing this post and doing some emails about my coming trips to Bulgaria for somehow giving me some inspirations. Oh right, I'd miss Indonesian cuisine again for I wouldn't be able to find the right spiciness in my food in Europe...not cool :/ Before we go through my upcoming chess trips plans, let's take a moment flashing back my past trips from last year....

For my love of traveling, I've been going overseas every month especially in year 2013 - don't be jealous, but it's right when people say traveling is addictive! Oh you... drugs in my blood.... :S

My super loyal pair of converse. They've been my best pal for almost 6 years and counting!

Let's start from... uhm... May 2013! OMG, it's exactly a year already. In the second week of the mentioned month, I won the 5th Alexander Great Open that held in Porto Carras, Greece. It was one of my most relaxing tournaments and I even surprised myself for being the clear first winner in the tournament. Why did I say so? Well, I didn't do any serious preparation because I was taking care my sister, Diajeng, who was playing the World Schools at Girls Under 10 group (and she got the 2nd placed with 8 points out of 9 rounds!). All I did daily during the tournament days were looking after her sleep, fixing her food,  and becoming her human alarm (as I always slept much later and woke up earlier than her to prepare everything she needed for the day). And I just did very little to myself included preparation before the game. But the positive side of lacking time and effort of preparation was it made me more focus on every move in my game. After the tournament, my friend Goran Urosevic interviewed me in behalf of Chessdom.Open this link to read it.

Posing with a trophy and medal on a beautiful sunny day in Greece makes me feel like a goddess! :P

My sister and I at the marina in front of the playing venue

After this tournament, as a part of my Europe tour, I went to Hungary to play in the Caissa GM tournament in a city called Kecskemet. By scoring only 2,5 out of 9 games, I lost all the elo points I earned in Greece when playing here. But it was a great experience to have some legends playing in the same groups as mine, eg Sax Gyula (deceased in January 2014, may he rest in peace), Groszpeter Attila, and Ilincic Zlatko. Despite all the bad stereotypes about those monthly tournaments in Hungary, I want to assure you I had a good time playing in this country. Those GMs that I mentioned above were really great players and what amazed me more was that they were no longer young. In our postmortem analysis after each game, they showed a very structural explanation towards each move in an...what should I say... ancient way perhaps? And yet, really constructive! It was unlike the modern era like now which principles are easily refuted by the computers. Salute!

I took a car trip from Kecskemet to Vienna, Austria. Time to share you all how I spent my off days before playing my 3rd and 4th tournaments in Bulgaria. Oh btw, all of this was a solo trip. Because in order to be a brave young lady, one must conquer the world alone (?) haha it's just because I found it very challenging to do everything alone in foreign countries, being an independent young woman is nothing bad at all :)

 

I got to taste the famous Wiener schnitzel and sachertorte. I did a sightseeing to their castles, palaces, and churches. I went to their classical music concert at Beethoven House. Oh Vienna.... I'm in love :*

Schonnbrunn Palace

At St. Stephan Cathedral

At Saint Peter's Church

Performances at the Beethoven's House

It was a rainy and cold day but I had to drag my 25 kg luggage down to a few blocks from my hotel in Vienna to the nearest subway station to take a train to Vienna airport to catch my flight to the capital city of Bulgaria, Sofia then to Varna where the Grand Europe Open was held. It wasn't an easy task for a girl at all....

See how Sofia greeted and welcomed me to the city.

Grand Europe Open 2013 was a series of 2 tournaments in Varna city on June 1st till 18th 2013. Two beautiful resorts were chosen to be the venue of each event: Albena and Golden Sands. I have 2 simple impressions for each of them: Albena was so quiet while Golden Sands was so lively. Can I request something in between please?

an IM norm was awarded in Albena for my solid performance

Ahh.... Golden Sands was perhaps too lively that affected my results badly. And as I'm going there again next month, I have to make sure that I won't repeat the same mistake. I mean, come on... there are lots of new mistakes that yet to be done *winks* Nevertheless, I had a good time with friends that minimize my sadness of my bad play. Those time which usually occur at night after the game.

With Zurab and Diana

And peeps, I did some photo shoots at a local studio wearing some classical costumes just for fun. So, which one do you like best? 

I almost always laughed when seeing those pictures. But don't let them bluff you for my feminine looking, coz it was only for this photo shoot session :) Anyhow, it was a good memory after all...

Sveta Sofia or Saint Sophia statue in the heart of the city

End of the tournament I had another day off in Sofia. The embassy of Indonesia in Sofia was so nice to me that they provided me a car with its driver to take me around the city. And by end of this month I'll fly again to the country to play in those tournaments again, but now I won't be alone as Indonesian Olympic team will take a part in them too.

Now I finished my fried rice, let me call it a night too... I'll be back to do my July reports and onwards as soon as possible. Hope you enjoy it so far. Cheers! :)                                                          

Summaries from December 2012 - April 2013

MAKITA Women Chess Match: Indonesia vs France

In December 2012, as I have mentioned before, the girls and I were playing a friendship match against France that was represented by IM Sophie Milliet, WIM Nino Maisuradze, WIM Natacha Benmesbah, and WIM Mathilde Congiu in Jakarta. The match was divided into 3 formats: blitz, rapid and classical. In blitz we lost 1-3, with Chelsie Monica Sihite as the only scorer in our team. We fought back in rapid and won 10-6! Our confidence boosted up and it showed in our classical games result by winning again with 9,5 - 6,5. This time our girl, Medina Warda Aulia, played exceptionally well. She scored 7,5 points out of 9 games (accumulation of 1 blitz game and 4 games of rapid and classical) and brought home most of the prize money than the rest of each of us of USD 12.000 as the total prize fund.

 

Australian Open 2013

A few days after the aforementioned match ended, I flew off to Australia to play the 2013 Australian Open in Sydney. It brought me a lot of nerves as my last visit to the country didn't end up well for my chess (see my previous report here). Struggled in the first round of the tournament against a 1800 player it added more negative feeling to my side. But fortunately with all the moral support from my closest friends there I could pick up and carried on. It turned out pretty well for me by beating the first seed of the tournament in the last round, GM Igor Khenkin from Germany. The victory brought me up to the 5th placed with 8 points out of 11 rounds. My Victorian friend, Jamie Kenmure, made a great coverage of the tournament on Chessbase: Fabulous fighting chess at the Australian Open. That also featured my game against the Super GM :) Full results can be seen here.

Before playing the last round

With my Australian friends (from left to right): GM Zong-Yuan Zhao, IM Moulthun Ly, FM Junta Ikeda (who got his 2nd IM norm in the tournament), and IM Andrew Brown.

In Sunshine Coast for a short holiday after the tournament.

 

HD Bank Cup Open 2013

On March 18th-25th I was in Ho Chi Minh city to play the very same event for 3 years in a row. My last year's result was not so good so I had an expectation that I'd got to play better this time. And yes, I played really solid throughout the tournament. With 5,5 points/9 rounds and performance rating of over 2450, I secured the first place of best women prize. And to add to the fun, I was given my 6th IM norm certificate as well :P If only it could be replaced by some rating points that I needed to break the 2400 mark :/

Below is my game against one of best Vietnamese players where I failed to keep my winning advantage to the end and eventually a draw was agreed.

From left to right: Me (1st best women), GM Zhao Jianchao (3rd placed), GM Le Quang Liem (1st placed) and GM Lu Shanglei (2nd placed)

 

 

Thailand Open 2013 

 

The event was held in Pattaya city this year from April 14th-21st and was really a great tournament. But because I was enjoying the relaxing environment too much, it didn't do well to my chess. Scoring only 5,5/9 and performing like a 2220 player, my rating was dropping down to 18 points. But nevertheless, I didn't regret on going there for I have gained more experiences and friends. It's one of the events that I'm considering to be back again next year ;)

Before starting of the 1st round

With GM Nigel Short in our photo shoot session.

Enjoying a fine sunny day at Pattaya beach with my roommate, WGM Irina Bulmaga from Moldova.

The winners of the tournament. GM Zong-Yuan Zhao from Australia took clear first.

My next post will be about my Europe trip from May - June. Stay tuned! :D

Belated Summary of the 2012 Asian Continental

Dear readers,

First of all I want to apologize for neglecting my own blog. It's been more than 3 months since I posted the last entry here. A good 3-months actually which is worthy enough to share, especially about my chess life. So after my bad performance in Australia last April that fairly took much of my rating away, I've made a good comeback in the following month by winning the 11th Asian Continental that was held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on May 4th-13th, securing a place in the 2014 Women's World Championship, and becoming the first Indonesian female to compete in such a glorious event. I would like to happily announce here that it was my highest achievement in chess so far. To top the Continent among those giant players from the notably strongest countries in Asia, namely China and India, is merely one's blessing that one could only wish for. Going there as the 19th seeded with a 2288 elo rating was simply removing my name from the favorite list. Being a 2300ish player for the last 4-5 years and suddenly dropping to 2288 was not that easy for me to accept. I wrote about it once as my status on Facebook that in order to jump higher, you have to bend your knees first which received a lot of positive comments to encourage me to get over the sadness and wishing me to do well in the very next event. And eventually yes, things turned to be good for me, psychologically, when I changed my mindset that to be an underdog was actually an advantage in such a situation and resulted in a lighter feeling during the games against much higher-rated opponents in Vietnam. That made me think that to have lost lots of rating in Australia was not a bad idea at all, but of course I didn't purposefully do it :)

What a fool I would be if I forget to name those who have helped me to go through the process. Therefore, I can proudly say that I'm so thankful to have a family like my own right now that never get tired of motivating me in all things. Papa, Mama, and my siblings: Kaisar and Diajeng, I love you all so dearly! :)

And to my closest ones: Junta, Lucy, Wei Ming, Gladys, and some others that are too many to mention here - for morally and technically helping and supporting me both in life and chess, and for just being there for me, thank you! :)

And now readers, please do enjoy the game that I selected to be annotated by myself from the aforementioned tournament.

Final Ranking after 9 Rounds

Rk.			Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	n	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1		WGM	Sukandar Irine Kharisma	INA	2288	7.0	0.0	2413	47.5	9	7	3.65	3.35	15	50.3
2		WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	IND	2378	6.5	0.0	2358	43.0	9	6.5	5.31	1.19	15	17.9
3		WGM	Tan Zhongyi	CHN	2430	6.5	0.0	2342	44.5	9	6.5	5.79	0.71	10	7.1
4		WGM	Ding Yixin	CHN	2353	6.5	0.0	2339	44.5	9	6.5	5.21	1.29	15	19.4
5			Wang Jue	CHN	2364	6.5	0.0	2313	43.0	9	6.5	5.41	1.09	15	16.4
6		GM	Zhao Xue	CHN	2549	6.0	0.0	2358	44.5	9	6	6.89	-0.89	10	-8.9
7		WGM	Le Thanh Tu	VIE	2313	5.5	0.0	2356	41.0	9	5.5	4.56	0.94	15	14.1
8		IM	Karavade Eesha	IND	2353	5.5	0.0	2340	44.0	9	5.5	5.12	0.38	10	3.8
9		WGM	Padmini Rout	IND	2345	5.5	0.0	2263	38.5	9	5.5	5.82	-0.32	15	-4.8
10		WGM	Guo Qi	CHN	2360	5.5	0.0	2221	34.0	9	5.5	6.59	-1.09	15	-16.4
11		WGM	Nguyen Thi Thanh An	VIE	2301	5.0	0.0	2387	45.0	9	5	4.16	0.84	15	12.6
12		WIM	Nakhbayeva Guliskhan	KAZ	2309	5.0	0.0	2379	39.0	9	5	4.38	0.62	15	9.3
13		IM	Mohota Nisha	IND	2321	5.0	0.0	2368	42.5	9	5	4.55	0.45	10	4.5
14		WIM	Yanjindulam Dulamsuren	MGL	2214	5.0	0.0	2362	38.5	9	5	3.82	1.18	15	17.7
15		IM	Munguntuul Batkhuyag	MGL	2451	5.0	0.0	2354	42.5	9	5	5.99	-0.99	10	-9.9
16		WFM	Zhai Mo	CHN	2248	5.0	0.0	2335	38.5	9	5	4.35	0.65	15	9.8
17		WGM	Pham Le Thao Nguyen	VIE	2390	5.0	0.0	2326	39.5	9	5	5.54	-0.54	15	-8.1
18		IM	Tania Sachdev	IND	2417	5.0	0.0	2308	37.0	9	5	6.24	-1.24	10	-12.4
19			Ni Shiqun	CHN	2157	5.0	0.0	2299	33.5	9	5	3.38	1.62	30	48.6
20		WGM	Batchimeg Tuvshintugs	MGL	2363	5.0	0.0	2270	38.5	9	5	6.08	-1.08	15	-16.2
21		WFM	Medina Warda Aulia	INA	2172	5.0	0.0	2260	31.0	9	5	4.39	0.61	15	9.1
22		WIM	Muminova Nafisa	UZB	2338	4.5	0.0	2334	38.0	9	4.5	5.08	-0.58	15	-8.7
23		WGM	Swathi Ghate	IND	2286	4.5	0.0	2326	41.0	9	4.5	4.73	-0.23	15	-3.5
24			Pratyusha Bodda	IND	2123	4.5	0.0	2277	36.5	8	3.5	2.76	0.74	15	11.1
25		WGM	Hoang Thi Bao Tram	VIE	2356	4.0	0.0	2352	41.0	9	4	5.25	-1.25	15	-18.8
26		WIM	Nguyen Quynh Anh	VIE	2129	4.0	0.0	2331	39.0	9	4	3.12	0.88	15	13.2
27		WIM	Hoang Thi Nhu Y	VIE	2238	4.0	0.0	2285	38.0	9	4	4.63	-0.63	15	-9.4
28		WIM	Vo Thi Kim Phung	VIE	2155	4.0	0.0	2276	33.5	9	4	3.69	0.31	15	4.7
29		WIM	Le Kieu Thien Kim	VIE	2239	4.0	0.0	2253	36.0	9	4	4.89	-0.89	15	-13.4
30		WIM	Pham Bich Ngoc	VIE	2176	3.5	0.0	2324	37.0	9	3.5	3.33	0.17	15	2.5
31		WIM	Nguyen Thi Mai Hung	VIE	2237	3.5	0.0	2277	37.5	9	3.5	4.71	-1.21	15	-18.1
32			Pham Thi Thu Hoai	VIE	1956	3.5	0.0	2253	35.5	8	2.5	1.95	0.55	15	8.3
33		WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	IND	2208	3.5	0.0	2224	37.0	8	2.5	3.98	-1.48	15	-22.2
34		WIM	Sihite Chelsie Monica	INA	2181	3.5	0.0	2195	33.5	9	3.5	5.21	-1.71	15	-25.6
35		WFM	Dewi Aa Citra	INA	2112	3.5	0.0	2182	31.0	8	2.5	3.76	-1.26	15	-18.9
36		WFM	Enkhtuul Altanulzii	MGL	2108	3.5	0.0	2177	31.5	9	3.5	4.40	-0.90	15	-13.5
37			Jelsen Yemi	INA	2007	3.5	0.0	2172	30.0	8	2.5	2.91	-0.41	15	-6.2
38			Ngo Thi Kim Tuyen	VIE	2070	3.0	1.0	2186	32.5	8	2	3.05	-1.05	15	-15.8
39		WFM	Ton Nu Hong An	VIE	1997	3.0	0.0	2089	28.0	8	2	3.50	-1.50	15	-22.5
40			Virda Rizka Aulia	INA	1769	2.5	0.0	2242	33.5	9	2.5	0.89	1.61	30	48.3
41			Otorbaeva Nuriza	KGZ	1740	2.0	0.0	2130	27.0	7	1	0.93	0.07	0	0.0

Full results of Men's Section can be seen here : http://chess-results.com/tnr70397.aspx?art=1&rd=9&lan=1&flag=30

Experiencing 'The Land Down Under'

Another new country has been explored again, Australia!

About Australia

Australia is an island continent and the world's sixth largest country (7,682,300 sq km) after Russia, Canada, China, the United States of America and Brazil.. Lying between the Indian and Pacific oceans, the country is approximately 4,000 km from east to west and 3,200 km from north to south, with a coastline 36,735 km long or 10° and 39° South latitude. No wonder it's called The Land Down Under.

Australia is an independent Western democracy with a population of more than 22 million. It is one of the world’s most urbanised countries that makes Australian culture is as broad and varied as the country's landscape. Australia is multicultural and multiracial and this is reflected in the country's food, lifestyle and cultural practices and experience. Hmm.. thinking of moving? :)

Australia’s formal name is the Commonwealth of Australia. The form of government used in Australia is a constitutional monarchy – ‘constitutional’ because the powers and procedures of the Australian Government are defined by a written constitution, and ‘monarchy’ because Australia’s head of state is Queen Elizabeth II. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 when six independent British colonies agreed to join together and become states of a new nation.

Australia has a developed modern market economy and has had one of the most outstanding economies of the world in recent years with high-growth, low-inflation and  low interest rates. Australia has enjoyed a high standard of living since the nineteenth century and is a major exporter of agricultural products, particularly wheat and wool, minerals such as iron-ore and gold, and energy in the forms of liquified natural gas and coal. It has made a comparatively large investment in social infrastructure, including education, training, health and transport. According to the Reserve Bank of Australia, Australian per capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth is higher than that of New Zealand, US, Canada and The Netherlands.  The past performance of the Australian economy has been heavily influenced by US, Japanese and Chinese economic growth.

History

Australia's first inhabitants, the Aboriginal people, are believed to have migrated from some unknown point in Asia to Australia between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago. While Captain James Cook is credited with Australia's European discovery in 1770, a Portuguese possibly first sighted the country, while the Dutch are known to have explored the coastal regions in the 1640s.

The first European settlement of Australia was in January 1788, when the First Fleet sailed into Botany Bay under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip. Originally established as a penal colony, by the 1830s the number of free settlers was increasing. Transportation of convicts to the eastern colonies was abolished in 1852 and to the western colonies in 1868.

 

The 50th Doeberl Cup and Sydney International Open 2012

The Doeberl Cup has been held every year over Easter since 1963 and is the longest running weekend chess event in Australia. The tournament runs in 4 sections, with the top section known as the Doeberl Cup Premier. The Doeberl Cup was named after its primary sponsor, Erich Doeberl, and although it is no longer sponsored by his family, the name is still used to describe the tournament. The Doeberl Cup this year has won by GM Horvath Adam (2487) from Hungary with 7 points, tied first with 3 others: GM Szabo Gergely-Andras-Gyula (2553) from Romania, GM Vajda Levente (2597) from Hungary, and IM Rathnakaran K (2410) from India whom successfully achieved a GM norm in this tournament. Full results can be seen here.
The Sydney International Open was first held in 2007 and began right after Doeberl since then. Taking  place at the Town Hall, Paramatta, SIO has become one of the biggest tournaments in Australia each year. The event this year got a sole winner who shared the first place in 50th Doeberl Cup a week before that. See the results.


Great tournaments in a great country, but unfortunately the results didn't go well for me. I have convincingly lost 40 elo points at Doeberl and 13 at SIO. Adding my loss in Vietnam last month (-9) has made my live rating drop till 2287. Bad luck... Although my health was something that has to be blamed for, more or less. The flu symptoms that I had before the start of the tournament became worse as the tournament was on the run and could only recover by the day it finished.


That aside, I have gained everything else: experience, friends, and a new entry for my "Visited Countries" list. Look forward on coming back again!

Galleries:

the opening ceremony of the Doeberl Cup

the people behind the 50th Doeberl Cup

GM Horvath Adam, the winner of the tournament

IM Morris James, the winner of the annual 2012 Lightning tournament

WFM Megan Setiabudi, one of Australian best juniors

with Mr. Ambassador at Indonesian Embassy in Canberra

celebrating the end of my teenage years in a foreign land

one of the presents I got is... a banquet of flowers :)

with Derek, Moulthun, Alex, Jason, and Junta

in remembrance of the 2000 Olympiad in Sydney

Junta, me , and Moulthun at the Sydney Harbour

sightseeing after SIO... Sydney Aquarium!

to be honest, I don't know what kind of fish I'm looking at @_@

for all chocolate lovers, make sure you vist Max Brenner :)

at Sydney Opera House

old friend reunion, with Elsa Yueh in Melbourne