Hello everyone! I’d like to finally write an article on my travel to Italy this past May. I know I’m writing this a bit late but it’s better late than never! I’ve been to many countries through out my life (because of curiosity and chess) but Italy was not on my list. When I had gotten the kind offer to come to Italy (by Matteo Zoldan who organizes tournaments around the country) – I could not say no!
On my trip, my best friend Anna came with me as well. She’s part Italian and wanted to learn about her Italian roots and family history. It’s always nice to have a friend near by rather than travelling all alone.
We arrived to Rome, Italy on May 15th with a lot of excitement for what was to come. Our travel around Italy was to have four days in/around Rome and on the 18th we would fly to Lecce area, close by is the location of the tournament I would play and organize in.
After arriving from the airport, Anna’s relatives (from Milan) picked us up, helped us get to the bed & breakfast place we were staying at. They were even nice enough to allow us to have a rest before going into the city. We got to see a few sights before it started raining heavily. Four of us were hungry after being in rain so we quickly ran into a restaurant beside the beautiful fountain! This was very exciting for me, the experience to try Italian cuisine in the country itself!
Pictures of Day 1:
On our second day (May 16, 2016) Anna’s relatives could not stay longer so we had to go explore Rome ourselves! Later that afternoon, we went on a tour which included the Colosseum and the Roman Forum.
Pictures of Day 2:
Pictures of Tour:
That night we got onto a late night bus to Pisa.
At 5am (May 17, 2016) we finally arrived to Pisa with little or no sleep, we hoped we would be able to survive the next 18 hours of sight seeing before our bus ride home back to Rome. Romualdo (a fellow chess player and youtuber) kindly suggested showing us around Pisa and later the city of Florence. To those of you who don’t know who Romualdo: he’s a chess player of approximately my strength but has a pretty cool YouTube channel running: https://www.youtube.com/c/robedascacchistitrash
Pictures in Pisa:
Pictures in Florence:
On our fourth and last day (May 18, 2016) to see Rome, we went to the Vatican City. Had a two hour tour… Visited the beautiful museum where Michelangelo’s famous paintings were on the walls and ceiling. We are not allowed to talk or take photos in that area, but you can find some photos online!
Pictures:
Italy is such a beautiful country with so much amazing history. Every city we went to, there were old buildings which are nothing compared to the ones in Ontario, Canada.
On May 19, 2016 we had a flight to catch to the Southern part of Italy. Our final destination was the city Gallipoli which is right beside the Ionian Sea. We were greeted by one of the representatives of Calori Hotels and taken to our hotel, Le Sirene Ecohotel.
Once we arrived to our hotel, checked in and got settled into our rooms – we were welcomed by Matteo Zoldan! To those of you who do not know who he is: One of the best tournament organizers I have ever met. Matteo plays the game himself (at a competitive level) and is ambitious to see more tournaments in Italy. Matteo hosts the Salento International Chess Open every year for the past 5 years. This tournament takes place in a resort where chess players can relax by the seaside and play chess. I was very happy and thankful for being invited to help. One of my jobs prior to my trip was to be the Media & Communications Officer. This position included me writing a few articles and encourage people to come via social media or personal contact.
May 20, 2016 I got to meet many of the participants and register them into the tournament! Players were coming from so many different countries which include Russia, Netherlands, Poland and many many more. So exciting to get to play in an International Tournament like this!
(End to my personal touch of the Article)
May 21, 2016 – May 28, 2016 Salento International Chess Open
One of my jobs at at the tournament was to be the photographer! I really enjoyed taking photos of chess players, surrounding areas and leisure events.
Events that occurred during the tournament:
Almost everyday we had chess players playing soccer!
Soccer (day time):
And even…
Soccer (night time):
Tennis:
An amazing part of this tournament was the tours, the hotel organized a tour daily for most of the days! Every day you could see a new city near by Gallipoli. I only went to the one in Lecce.
Leece Tour:
Now let’s get to the chess part!
There were two section: Open A and Open B. Open A consisted of players in the 1900s (FIDE) and above while Open B was anyone up to 2000 (FIDE). I was going to play in the Open B section and even try to win a money prize but the Arbiter asked me to be in the top section because there was an odd number. Since I thought the Organizer (Matteo) wanted this as well – I agreed. Later on, Matteo wondered why I went into the top section but it was already too late for me to go back! In the end, I got3.5/9: 5 draws, 1 win, and 3 losses. I am quite happy with myself because every single opponent was higher rated… most of my opponents were about 100 or over (except my last game!). For more my first International in many years I think I did quite well and even gained a bit of rating! 😀
| Name | Orlova Yelizaveta |
| Title | WCM |
| Starting rank | 40 |
| Rating national | 0 |
| Rating international | 1919 |
| Performance rating | 1986 |
| FIDE rtg +/- | 14,4 |
| Points | 3,5 |
| Rank | 35 |
| Federation | CAN |
| Ident-Number | 0 |
| Fide-ID | 2601826 |
| Year of birth | 1994 |
| Rd. | Bo. | SNo | Name | RtgI | FED | Pts. | Res. | w-we | K | rtg+/- | |
| 1 | 19 | 19 | FM | Lorscheid Gerhard | 2214 | GER | 4,0 | s 0 | -0,15 | 20 | -3,00 |
| 2 | 19 | 27 | Pizzuto Samuele Tullio | 2077 | ITA | 4,0 | w ½ | 0,21 | 20 | 4,20 | |
| 3 | 18 | 31 | Sirena Gianni | 2027 | ITA | 4,0 | s ½ | 0,15 | 20 | 3,00 | |
| 4 | 17 | 28 | Patavia Antonio | 2074 | ITA | 4,0 | s 0 | -0,29 | 20 | -5,80 | |
| 5 | 19 | 34 | Eijk Yuri | 2009 | NED | 3,0 | w ½ | 0,12 | 20 | 2,40 | |
| 6 | 17 | 26 | WGM | Kouvatsou Maria | 2090 | GRE | 4,0 | s 0 | -0,27 | 20 | -5,40 |
| 7 | 20 | 32 | Callier Christophe | 2023 | BEL | 4,0 | w ½ | 0,14 | 20 | 2,80 | |
| 8 | 20 | 23 | Otten Remmelt | 2129 | NED | 3,0 | w ½ | 0,27 | 20 | 5,40 | |
| 9 | 19 | 38 | Inguscio Giorgio | 1950 | ITA | 2,5 | s 1 | 0,54 | 20 | 10,80 |
If you’d like to see how the Open A tournament went, see this link: http://chess-results.com/tnr222081.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=9&flag=30&wi=821
Open B: http://chess-results.com/tnr222084.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=9&flag=30&wi=821
During the tournament:
Blitz Tournaments:
In conclusion, I really loved my stay in Italy. I got to see so many beautiful sights and meet great people. Italy is truly one of the countries that has the most history. Seeing the historic buildings really reminded me about my days back home in Ukraine and how much I miss travelling to Europe. A special thanks to Matteo Zoldan (picture below) for inviting me to the tournament.
It was a great atmosphere, the food was amazing and the staff was very friendly. If you want to play a tournament and have a getaway I definitely would recommend you to register! You can get the best of both worlds. Wouldn’t it be great to prepare or analyze games beside the seaside?
Visit: http://www.5salentochessopen2016.it/?lang=en for more information regarding this years event! I will keep you updated once the information about the 6th Salento Open will be known!
Thank you so much for reading! Hope you will enjoy my future posts about my travels in the west coast of Canada/ USA. Please follow my blog: I will be updating about my life, travels and chess.
Have a great day everyone! Hope you win many chess games in the near future!
Hi everyone, My name is Yelizaveta Orlova – I am a WCM and WNM. I used to play competitively but now I’ve taken up teaching mostly.
My friend and I love chess so we have started our own business in Toronto, Canada! If you know anyone who lives here – please let them know about us!
Chess.com group: http://www.chess.com/groups/home/pub-chess-toronto
About Pub Chess Toronto
Learn and play chess in a social atmosphere. Pub Chess Toronto’s founders are top players in the country.
We hold teaching sessions/lectures + casual/competitive play. Currently, we are re-located at “The Madison”, which is in the heart of Annex and 2 mins walk from Spadina station. Our past location was “The Central”, Markham & Bloor.
The point of our meet up is to popularize chess. Chess is known to be a very sophisticated game but we want to show the social and fun aspect of it! Come out, drink/eat, meet new people over the chess board!
Every wednesday there will be a lecture/blitz tournament/casual play.
Want to see more pictures? Like our FB page: https://www.facebook.com/PubChessToronto
Meetup group: http://www.meetup.com/Pub-Chess-Toronto
Info about our Wednesday’s events:
Casual players:
Entry fee: 10$ (+free drink)
– Lectures
– Casual games (with/without the clock)
– Taught/play against Woman National Master Yelizaveta Orlova
Competitive players:
Entry fee: 20$ (+free drink)
– Lecture
– Blitz tournament
– Casual games (with/without the clock)
Blitz tournament:
Time: 7-10pm
Registration: Pre-register to pubchesstoronto@hotmail (.com) or go to our events page on FB
Location: Madison Ave Pub, 14 Madison Ave, Toronto (2 min NE of Spadina station) – 2nd floor
Time control: 5 min 2 sec inc, 5 double rounds (Play opponent white & black)
Sections: Players divided into 2 to 4 sections depending on turnout, may “play up”
Prizes: Based on entries, overall prizes & class prizes awarded
The Madison specials on Wednesdays:
– 50% off appetizers from 5-8PM
– Wings 5$ per 1lb
– 2oz. mixed rail drinks
Hope to see you guys there 🙂
Hi everyone,
I’m terribly sorry I have not posted anything since now.
This post is about my first American tournament experience. I was invited to this tournament by the organizer, Alan Kaufman. Alan Kaufman is a great chess enthusiast. Not to the say the least, he’s a chess player himself! Alan, one day – about a little over a year ago messaged me about his tournament. Not only was I interested to play because it was close to home (I live in Toronto, the tournament was in a small city not far from Detroit) but because of the recommendations to play were very high!
The tournament ended up being much better than I expected. I was treated very well – someone picked me up from the bus terminal, and I had a nice stay at the hotel we were playing in! I got to meet many new people – chess players, parents, enthusiasts! I even got to see people in super hero costumes (there was another event being held in the same hotel). Now, about the chess! I helped Alan to try to get many international chess players to attend the tournament – and even succeeded! The tournament ended up being a greatly organized and strong event. My result: I am not exactly thrilled on the result I had at this tournament but I had to expect it because I was one of the lowest rated players! I did end up getting two draws, one win, and lost about 8 FIDE rating. My chess has been a little rusty, because I am a full-time chess teacher – it’s really hard to teach and study at the same time!
I can’t seem to find any results on this tournament – but the second I find it, I will update it to this page.
Please check out the website for this outstanding strong tournament: http://michiganchessfestival.com/
During the tournament, I was the photographer for this event – please check out the photos I took! There were two tournaments through out the 5 day chess festival. The 9-round tournament which was 5 days (October 23-27) and the 5-round tournament which was 3 days (October 25-27).
9-Round Norm Tournament
5-Round Tournament
For those of you who did not know, I went on a 3.5 month trip to Europe.
I finished my first year of College at George Brown which ended April 19th, a month later I was already packing up my suitcase for my long getaway! I had a lot of experiences on my trip – good and bad, which I have to admit just made me into a stronger person. The idea of my trip? Why did I do it? Well, I go to Ukraine every summer, because that is originally where I was born. Since I had the money, I decided it was very convenient for me to travel around Europe. This year I decided to go to England, Wales, and Holland. For chess and travelling – but mostly travelling!
Ukraine
Crimea (May 25 – June 1)
My grandmother and I decided to go on a trip to a very nice part of Ukraine – Crimea. One of the historic and touristy places in probably all of Ukraine.
Kiev (June 2 – June 11)
My second time ever setting foot in Kiev! The previous time, I didn’t even get to see the City – I was just passing through. During my visit, I got to see a Stronger Super GM tournament: Sberbank Open. Here is the official results of the tournament.
Ranking of International chess tournament SBERBANK OPEN А
—————————————————————————————————————————————-
Rank Name, First Name Title Fed. Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Place
1 Anatoly Karpov GM RUS 2637 ½ ½ 1 2 2½ 2½ 2½ 3 3 9
2 Anton Korobov GM UKR 2719 0 1 1 1½ 2 2 3 4 4½ 7
3 Peter Leko GM HUN 2732 ½ 1 1½ 2 3 4 4½ 4½ 5 3
4 Pavel Elyanov GM UKR 2709 ½ ½ 1½ 1½ 2 2 2½ 3½ 4½ 5
5 Veselin Topalov GM BUL 2775 1 2 3 3 3½ 4½ 5 5 6 2
6 Arkady Naiditsch GM GER 2702 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 2 10
7 Alexander Areschenko GM UKR 2708 ½ ½ 1½ 2 2 2½ 3½ 3½ 4 8
8 Sergei Zhigalko GM BLR 2684 ½ 1½ 1½ 2½ 3½ 4 4 4½ 5 4
9 Sergey Karjakin GM RUS 2808 1 1½ 1½ 2½ 3½ 4 5 5½ 6½ 1
10 Eugene Tomaszewski GM RUS 2718 ½ 1½ 2½ 3 3 3½ 4 4½ 4½ 6
—————————————————————————————————————————————-
England
London (June 21 – 29, July 3 – 11)
It was also my second time visiting London, but I decided it was worth to see again because the last time I visited was when I was 11 years old! Saw some chess friends as well!
Wales
The very first time I visited this Country! Very beautiful – especially the castles!
Cardiff/Barrie (June 30 – July 3)
Netherlands
An amazing first experience. I’d like to live here one day.
Leiden (July 12 – 20)
During my stay in Leiden, I played a tournament. Open Section. I am not exactly proud about how I played – but had certain negatives going on at the time and think not losing rating points was amazing at this point. I was mostly happy after 4 rounds, I only had 0.5 – really bad start but still managed to not lose the rest of the games!
Lovely city, I want to visit again one day!
Amsterdam (July 21 – 23)
Gorgeous City!
I hope all of you liked the pictures – Stay tuned for my next article which will be about my lovely birth city – Odessa, Ukraine.
Hi Everyone,
May 12, 2013 – not only was Mother’s Day in Canada but one of our important girls’ championship!
I was really glad to see so many girls playing in this tournament (and even though it was less than last year, it still was a hit!)
I’d like to thank my close friend Monica Chung for these lovely pictures!
Here are some pictures of the girls and the tournament:
The same day, I decided to do another photo-shoot with my friend. We had this day planned for a long time, so the weather did not stop us from doing it (rain/snow/hail)! Here are some pictures:
I recently was told there is a youtube video posted of myself playing chess.
This tournament was the Women’s Rapid at UNAM, Mexico City.
I did not play very well in the rapid tournament because this is not my chess style. I like playing long games a lot more.
Here is the youtube video: http://youtu.be/CLTdJ2dClL8?t=18m (The video starts at 18 minutes because I think it’s the best time to start watching especially since the video in total is almost 30 minutes.)
The ending of this game was a clear draw, and even my opponent was going to offer me a draw but I lost by time instead. We had a nice chat in Russian after each game.
I am thankful for the organizers who invited me to this tournament, I had a wonderful experience!
Couple of months ago I decided to play in Reykjavik Open, especially because this tournament was during my break in College! I’d like to share my experiences I had at this event with all of you. This tournament was my first international open tournament ever and I am amazed at how much I liked it! I have played many tournaments where I represent Canada, but have never been to one where I went just for myself. Of course I can’t be pleased with my result at this tournament but the experiences I had were amazing, this includes: visiting a new country, meeting new people/seeing old, and just a new tournament experience! I have to admit though, before this tournament, I had 3-4 very well played tournaments and for this tournament, I ended up not earning my expectations. Instead of gaining fide elo, I actually went into the opposite direction (losing 35). Anyways, this event showed me that I must work on my chess and stop focusing on different things in life during a tournament!
Here is the final standings of the tournament: I included only top 20 on my page. If you’d like to see the rest please go to this link.
Sorry about the format of the table, I know it goes into the sidebar, but I do not know how to eliminate this problem.
| Rk. | Name | Typ | sex | FED | RtgI | RtgN | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | Rp | n | w | we | w-we | K | rtg+/- | |||
| 1 | GM | Eljanov Pavel | UKR | 2678 | 0 | 8.0 | 63.0 | 55.0 | 53.25 | 2799 | 10 | 8 | 6.10 | 1.90 | 10 | 19.0 | ||||
| 2 | GM | So Wesley | U20 | PHI | 2684 | 0 | 8.0 | 61.0 | 53.0 | 52.50 | 2753 | 10 | 8 | 6.77 | 1.23 | 0 | 0.0 | |||
| 3 | GM | Amin Bassem | EGY | 2631 | 0 | 8.0 | 56.5 | 49.0 | 49.00 | 2658 | 10 | 8 | 6.99 | 1.01 | 10 | 10.1 | ||||
| 4 | GM | Giri Anish | U18 | NED | 2722 | 0 | 7.5 | 62.0 | 54.0 | 48.25 | 2733 | 10 | 7.5 | 6.91 | 0.59 | 10 | 5.9 | |||
| 5 | GM | Cheparinov Ivan | BUL | 2709 | 0 | 7.5 | 61.0 | 53.0 | 47.25 | 2685 | 10 | 7.5 | 7.37 | 0.13 | 10 | 1.3 | ||||
| 6 | IM | Wei Yi | U14 | CHN | 2501 | 0 | 7.5 | 60.5 | 52.5 | 46.00 | 2661 | 10 | 7.5 | 5.01 | 2.49 | 10 | 24.9 | |||
| 7 | GM | Dziuba Marcin | POL | 2602 | 0 | 7.5 | 60.0 | 52.0 | 46.00 | 2619 | 10 | 7.5 | 6.87 | 0.63 | 10 | 6.3 | ||||
| 8 | GM | Ding Liren | U20 | CHN | 2709 | 0 | 7.5 | 58.0 | 50.0 | 44.50 | 2601 | 10 | 7.5 | 7.75 | -0.25 | 10 | -2.5 | |||
| 9 | NM | Norowitz Yaacov | USA | 2432 | 0 | 7.5 | 57.5 | 50.0 | 46.00 | 2547 | 10 | 7.5 | 5.56 | 1.94 | 0 | 0.0 | ||||
| 10 | GM | Jones Gawain C B | ENG | 2637 | 0 | 7.5 | 57.5 | 50.0 | 45.50 | 2664 | 10 | 7.5 | 6.71 | 0.79 | 10 | 7.9 | ||||
| 11 | GM | Sokolov Ivan | NED | 2644 | 0 | 7.5 | 53.0 | 45.5 | 42.25 | 2547 | 9 | 7 | 7.09 | -0.09 | 10 | -0.9 | ||||
| 12 | GM | Yu Yangyi | U18 | CHN | 2688 | 0 | 7.0 | 62.5 | 54.5 | 44.75 | 2666 | 10 | 7 | 6.79 | 0.21 | 10 | 2.1 | |||
| 13 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave Maxime | FRA | 2715 | 0 | 7.0 | 62.0 | 54.0 | 44.00 | 2647 | 10 | 7 | 7.32 | -0.32 | 10 | -3.2 | ||||
| 14 | GM | Gajewski Grzegorz | POL | 2644 | 0 | 7.0 | 60.5 | 52.5 | 43.25 | 2649 | 10 | 7 | 6.41 | 0.59 | 10 | 5.9 | ||||
| 15 | GM | Ipatov Alexander | U20 | TUR | 2569 | 0 | 7.0 | 58.5 | 51.0 | 42.50 | 2565 | 10 | 7 | 6.65 | 0.35 | 10 | 3.5 | |||
| 16 | GM | L’ami Erwin | NED | 2622 | 0 | 7.0 | 58.5 | 51.0 | 41.00 | 2618 | 10 | 7 | 6.53 | 0.47 | 10 | 4.7 | ||||
| 17 | GM | Yilmaz Mustafa | U20 | TUR | 2531 | 0 | 7.0 | 58.0 | 50.5 | 42.75 | 2565 | 10 | 7 | 6.08 | 0.92 | 10 | 9.2 | |||
| 18 | GM | Shulman Yury | USA | 2563 | 0 | 7.0 | 58.0 | 50.5 | 41.25 | 2580 | 10 | 7 | 6.31 | 0.69 | 10 | 6.9 | ||||
| 19 | GM | Baklan Vladimir | UKR | 2609 | 0 | 7.0 | 57.0 | 49.5 | 42.00 | 2584 | 10 | 7 | 6.85 | 0.15 | 10 | 1.5 | ||||
| 20 | GM | Navara David | CZE | 2710 | 0 | Mahrla Praha | 7.0 | 56.5 | 48.5 | 41.25 | 2588 | 10 | 7 | 7.95 | -0.95 | 10 | -9.5 |
And here is my result:
| Name | Orlova Yelizaveta |
| Title | WCM |
| Starting rank | 139 |
| Rating national | 0 |
| Rating international | 1978 |
| Ratingperformance | 1764 |
| FIDE rtg +/- | -35.8 |
| Points | 4.5 |
| Rank | 159 |
| Federation | CAN |
| Ident-Number | 0 |
| Fide-ID | 2601826 |
| Rd. | Bo. | SNo | Name | RtgI | RtgN | FED | Club/City | Pts. | Res. | we | w-we | K | rtg+/- | |
| 1 | 27 | 26 | GM | Maze Sebastien | 2556 | 0 | FRA | 6.0 | w 0 | 0.08 | -0.08 | 15 | -1.20 | |
| 2 | 81 | 196 | Ramtin Raman | 1661 | 1661 | IRI | 2.0 | s 1 | 0.87 | 0.13 | 15 | 1.95 | ||
| 3 | 50 | 70 | FM | Kvisvik Brede | 2314 | 2314 | NOR | Kristiansund | 5.5 | w 0 | 0.12 | -0.12 | 15 | -1.80 |
| 4 | 86 | 202 | Jacobsen Trond | 1610 | 1381 | NOR | SK1911 | 2.5 | s ½ | 0.90 | -0.40 | 15 | -6.00 | |
| 5 | 82 | 209 | Davidsdottir Nansy | 1479 | 0 | ISL | Fjölnir | 3.5 | w 0 | 0.92 | -0.92 | 15 | -13.80 | |
| 6 | 88 | 175 | Bauza Mercere Eduardo | 1809 | 0 | ARG | 3.5 | s 0 | 0.72 | -0.72 | 15 | -10.80 | ||
| 7 | 98 | 218 | Hrafnsson Hilmir | 1331 | 1235 | ISL | Fjölnir | 3.0 | s 1 | 0.92 | 0.08 | 15 | 1.20 | |
| 8 | 84 | 185 | Leosson Atli Johann | 1736 | 1826 | ISL | KR | 4.5 | w ½ | 0.80 | -0.30 | 15 | -4.50 | |
| 9 | 83 | 189 | Seim Fredrik | 1714 | 0 | NOR | 4.0 | s 1 | 0.82 | 0.18 | 15 | 2.70 | ||
| 10 | 78 | 176 | Hyotyla Tapio | 1792 | 1834 | SUI | 4.5 | w ½ | 0.74 | -0.24 | 15 | -3.60 |
I’d also like to show my most favorite game in this tournament which I played — before I started blundering pieces in the rest of my games.
Round 3: WCM Yelizaveta Orlova (1978) – FM Brede Kvisvik (2314)
The real reason I am proud of myself for this game is because I am probably the worst chess player ever in time trouble…and managed to not lose by time before move 40 🙂 (I began to have time trouble at move 17, I had less than 10 minutes on the clock and still had 23 more moves to get the next time control!)
1. Nf3 g6 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6. e3 Qb6 7. c3 Nf6 8. O-O
O-O 9. Nd2 d5 10. Qb3 Qc5 11. Qb5 Qd6 12. N2b3 e5 13. Nxc6 bxc6 14. Qc5 Qe6 15.
Na5 Bd7 16. c4 Rfc8 17. Qa3 Bf8 18. c5 Qe7 19. b4 Bf5 20. Bb2 Rab8 21. Rfd1 Bg7
22. Bc3 Ne4 23. Be1 Ng5 24. h4 Ne4 25. f3 Nf6 26. g4 Be6 27. Rac1 e4 28. g5 Nh5
29. f4 Bg4 30. Rd2 d4 31. Nc4 dxe3 32. Nxe3 Bf3 33. Bxf3 exf3 34. f5 Be5 35.
Bf2 Nf4 36. Re1 Qc7 37. Kf1 Nh3 38. Ng4 Re8 39. Qxf3 Nxf2 40. Nxe5 Rxe5 41.
Rxe5 Qxe5 42. Rxf2 gxf5 43. Qxf5 Qxf5 44. Rxf5 Rxb4 45. Rf6 Rxh4 46. Rxc6 Ra4
47. Rc8+ Kg7 48. c6 Rxa2 49. c7 Rc2 50. Ke1 a5 51. Kd1 Rc6 52. Kd2 a4 53. Kd3
a3 54. Kd4 a2 55. Ra8 Rxc7 56. Rxa2 Re7 57. Kd5 Re1 58. Rg2 Re6 59. Rg1 Kg6 60.
Rg2 Ra6 61. Ke5 Ra5+ 62. Kf4 Rf5+ 0-1
After this game, I was quite upset that I did not beat or at least draw this FM. The rest of the tournament ended up being horrible. This tournament showed me that one loss can really affect someone’s future games, but it doesn’t mean you have to allow this to happen to you. I was not in a fighting mood after this game, which shows in the rest of my results.
New York City, USA – Feb 17, 2013
Arrived to New York City for my flight. Had a lot of time in between so was with family in Manhattan for couple of hours!
Rekjavik, Iceland – Feb 18, 2013 – Feb 28, 2013
Photos from my whole trip. Including the Golden Circle Tour which was offered for chess player–I got to see Gullfoss waterfall, the Geysir hot spring and Bobby Fischer´s final resting place!
Side Events:
Lunch Lecture with GM Alexander Ipatov, , “Even Steven” Blitz Tournament, & Soccer Match: Iceland VS Rest of the World.
http://www.reykjavikopen.com/side-events-calendar/
Interviews for Beauty and Chess Geek Youtube Channel!
http://www.youtube.com/BeautyandChessGeek – Don’t forget! Share, Like, and Subscribe!!!
GM Alexander Ipatov – Current World Junior Chess Champion
Also, you can check out Alexander’s Facebook Page & Website
IM Hjörvar Steinn Grétarsson – Strong Icelandic Chess Player
Also, there was a blog post written on the Reykjavik Open 2013 Website about this interview, click here to see it.
WIM Arlette Van Weersel – Strong Women Netherland Player
Please rate/like the interviews 🙂 & don’t forget to share them with your friends!
Feb 28, 2013 – March 3, 2013 – New York City, USA
On the way back from my Icelandic trip, I decided to stay with family for couple of more days before going back to Toronto, Canada!
I am proud to say that the second chess video of ‘Beauty and Chess Geek’ is up!
I’d like to say a big thanks to my partner in crime, Alejandro Tadeo Ramirez Alvarez for doing this video alone for this week.
I have had many mid-term exams this week, and I am also getting ready for REYKJAVIK OPEN 2013!
Once again because of the time limit, we had to divide the video into two parts! Here it is!
Part 1: http://youtu.be/bbfczQlXXJs
Part 2: http://youtu.be/pqtuqol8dBQ
YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/BeautyandChessGeek
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beauty-and-Chess-Geek/383148855114062
I’d like to inform my chess fans that I will try my best to make some videos when I will be playing the tournament. I would like to have couple of interviews of strong chess players, maybe i’ll show one of my best games, or I will even just include a video about how beautiful Iceland–let’s hope I will include all three of these types of videos on the channel!
I am leaving tomorrow to New York City, to catch my flight.
I will be in Reykjavik, Iceland from February 18 – 28 & I will stay couple of days in New York City from February 28 – March 3!
It would be really nice if everyone can follow my facebook page, I will be updating it regularly about games, experience, and entertainment in Iceland! You can either get the link below, or just like on the sidebar.
My Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Yelizaveta-Orlova/203077049713487
Happy New Year to everyone! I started 2013 with a chess tournament here in my home, Toronto Canada!
From January 4-6, I played in this tournament, section: U2200!
At the beginning of the tournament I was ranked as 14, but ended in 7th with 3.5/5. Here are my games from round 1-5! To view, just copy the notation and paste it in a new board in Chessbase!
[Event “Hart House Winter Open 2013”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2013.01.04”]
[Round “1”]
[White “Orlova, Yelizaveta”]
[Black “Zhang, John”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “E60”]
[WhiteElo “2071”]
[BlackElo “1840”]
[PlyCount “93”]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. O-O d6 6. c4 Nc6 7. d5 Nb4 8. a3
Na6 9. Nc3 Nc5 10. Nd4 a5 11. b3 Nfd7 12. Rb1 e5 13. dxe6 Nxe6 14. Nxe6 fxe6
15. Nb5 Nf6 16. Bb2 Rb8 17. Qd2 b6 18. Na7 Bb7 19. Nc6 Bxc6 20. Bxc6 Qe7 21.
Rbd1 e5 22. Qc2 Ng4 23. c5 Kh8 24. Qc4 Qg5 25. h4 Qh5 26. Bf3 Rf4 27. Qe6 Rf5
28. cxd6 cxd6 29. Rxd6 Bf6 30. Kg2 Rf8 31. Bxg4 Qxg4 32. f3 Qh5 33. g4 Qxh4 34.
Rh1 Qg5 35. Bc1 Rf4 36. Bxf4 Qxf4 37. Qc4 e4 38. Rd7 exf3+ 39. exf3 Qxc4 40.
Rhxh7+ Kg8 41. bxc4 Rc8 42. Rh6 Bb2 43. Rxg6+ Kf8 44. a4 Ke8 45. Rh7 Rxc4 46.
Rxb6 Be5 47. Rbb7 1-0
[Event “Hart House Winter Open 2013”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2013.01.05”]
[Round “2”]
[White “Orlova, Yelizaveta”]
[Black “Inigo`, Aquino”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “A06”]
[WhiteElo “2071”]
[BlackElo “2193”]
[PlyCount “39”]
1. b3 d5 2. Bb2 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Be7 5. Ne5 Nbd7 6. f4 O-O 7. Be2 Nxe5 8.
Bxe5 c5 9. O-O d4 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 dxe3 12. dxe3 Qb6 13. Qc1 Bd7 14. Nd2
Bc6 15. Nc4 Qc7 16. a4 Rfd8 17. Qc2 Rd7 18. e4 Rad8 19. e5 Be7 20. Rad1 1/2-1/2
[Event “Hart House Winter Open 2013”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2013.01.05”]
[Round “3”]
[White “Shebetah, Wajdy”]
[Black “Orlova, Yelizaveta”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B21”]
[WhiteElo “2144”]
[BlackElo “2071”]
[Annotator “,Liza”]
[PlyCount “89”]
Taken during round 3.
This game was very upsetting for me. The arbiters gave me the wrong clock which had a different time control. The time control should have been 120 mins + 30 secs, but the time control on the clock was 120h/40 moves + 1 hour. On move 30, I had less than 5 minutes on the clock, and missed a tactical variation couple of moves. Not only that, when I had less than 5 seconds on the clock, I decided to make a sacrifice of exchange. After that move, my opponent and I realized that we were put a wrong time, and that we both should be having 20 more minutes (because during that moment we had already played 40 moves.) The arbiters added 20 mins to my clock and my opponents but I slowly lost anyway because I still tried to play for win with 41…d4, instead of just going for a draw line (41…Rxe5). Anyways, the next two games I won, which secured me with being the only one with 3.5 in the tournament. Here’s my third round game, followed by the rest!
1. e4 c5 2. c3 g6 3. f4 Bg7 4. Nf3 d6 5. Be2 Nf6 6. O-O O-O 7. d3 Nc6 8. Na3 a6
9. Kh1 b5 10. Qe1 b4 11. Nc2 bxc3 12. bxc3 c4 13. d4 Nxe4 14. Bxc4 d5 15. Bd3
Bf5 16. Ne3 Nf2+ 17. Rxf2 Bxd3 18. Ne5 Nxe5 19. fxe5 f5 20. exf6 exf6 21. Ng4
Qd7 22. h3 Rae8 23. Qd2 Bf5 24. Ba3 Rf7 25. Nh6+ Bxh6 26. Qxh6 Be4 27. Raf1 f5
28. Rb2 Qc7 29. Bc5 Qg3 30. Rc1 f4 31. Bd6 Qe3 32. Rf1 Qxc3 (32… f3 33. Qxe3
fxg2+ 34. Rxg2 Bxg2+ 35. Kxg2 Rxe3 36. Rb1) 33. Rbf2 f3 34. gxf3 Rxf3 (34…
Bxf3+ 35. Kh2 Rf5 (35… Qe3 36. Qxe3 Rxe3 37. Rb1 Re2 38. Rxe2 Bxe2 39. Be5
Re7)) 35. Kh2 Qe3 (35… Qe3) (35… Rxf2+ 36. Rxf2 Bf5 37. Be5 Re7 38. Re2)
36. Qxe3 Rxe3 37. Rc1 Bf5 38. Be5 Rxh3+ 39. Kg2 Re3 40. Rc7 R3xe5 41. dxe5 d4
42. Rb2 d3 43. Kf2 g5 44. Rb6 h5 (44… a5) 45. Rxa6 1-0
[Event “Hart House Winter Open 2013”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2013.01.06”]
[Round “4”]
[White “Bellissimo, Joseph”]
[Black “Orlova, Yelizaveta”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “B22”]
[WhiteElo “2064”]
[BlackElo “2071”]
[PlyCount “104”]
1. e4 c5 2. c3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. cxd4 d5 5. e5 Nc6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Be3 a6 8. Rc1
Nh6 9. Bd3 Ng4 10. Qf3 Nxe3 11. Qxe3 Nxe5 12. dxe5 d4 13. Qf4 dxc3 14. Rxc3 O-O
15. Nf3 Qb6 16. Rc2 Be6 17. b3 Bd5 18. O-O Bxf3 19. gxf3 Rad8 20. Bc4 e6 21.
Re1 Qa5 22. Re4 Rd1+ 23. Kg2 b5 24. b4 Qb6 25. Bb3 Rfd8 26. Rc5 R1d2 27. Qh4 a5
28. a3 Bf8 29. Rc2 a4 30. Bxa4 bxa4 31. Rcc4 Be7 32. Qg3 R2d3 33. Qf4 Rxa3 34.
Red4 Rd3 35. Rxd3 Rxd3 36. b5 a3 37. Ra4 Qxb5 38. Ra7 Rd7 39. Ra8+ Rd8 40. Ra7
Qc5 41. Ra4 Qb6 42. h4 h5 43. Kg3 Bc5 44. Kg2 Qb2 45. Qf6 Qxf2+ 46. Kh3 Qf1+
47. Kg3 Qg1+ 48. Kh3 Qd1 49. Rf4 Qf1+ 50. Kg3 Bf2+ 51. Kh2 Qg1+ 52. Kh3 Qg3#
0-1
[Event “Hart House Winter Open 2013”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2013.01.06”]
[Round “5”]
[White “Orlova, Yelizaveta”]
[Black “Ye, Stephen”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “A01”]
[WhiteElo “2071”]
[BlackElo “2012”]
[Annotator “,Liza”]
[PlyCount “89”]
1. b3 Nf6 2. Bb2 g6 3. Bxf6 exf6 4. c4 Bg7 5. Nc3 O-O 6. g3 Nc6 7. Bg2 f5 8.
Rc1 d6 9. e3 Re8 10. Nge2 Rb8 11. O-O Bd7 12. d4 Kh8 13. h4 Ne7 14. b4 a5 15.
a3 Ng8 16. Qc2 Nf6 17. Nf4 axb4 18. axb4 c6 19. Rfd1 Qe7 20. d5 Ne4 21. Nxe4
fxe4 22. c5 Bg4 23. Rd2 Rbc8 24. Bf1 Red8 25. dxc6 Rxc6 26. Bb5 Rcc8 27. Nd5
Qe6 28. Nb6 Bf3 29. Bf1 Rc6 30. Nc4 Bf8 31. Na5 Rc7 32. Qb2+ Bg7 33. Qb1 Qc8
34. Nc4 dxc5 35. Nd6 Rxd6 (35… Qb8 36. bxc5 f5 (36… Re7 37. Qb3) 37. Qb3)
36. Rxd6 cxb4 37. Rxc7 Qxc7 38. Qxb4 Bf8 39. Qb2+ Kg8 40. Rb6 Bg7 41. Qb1 Be5
42. Rxb7 Qd6 43. Qb3 Qf6 44. Rxf7 Qxf7 45. Bc4 1-0
This last game had so many variations, but I decided to stay safe, especially since this was the last game, and I wanted quickly to go home!
And here is the final standings:
| # | Name | ID | Rtng | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Tot | Prize |
| 1 | James Fu | 147873 | 2127 | W17 | W11 | W6 | W8 | D2 | 4.5 | 500.00 |
| 2 | Aquino Inigo | 136995 | 2193 | W28 | D7 | W19 | W5 | D1 | 4.0 | 120.00 |
| 3 | Wajdy Shebetah | 148432 | 2144 | W23 | H— | W7 | D4 | W11 | 4.0 | 120.00 |
| 4 | Leon Perelman | 146258 | 2112 | W18 | D19 | W14 | D3 | W12 | 4.0 | 120.00 |
| 5 | Derick Joshua Twesigye | 150779 | 2095 | W30 | W16 | W20 | L2 | W8 | 4.0 | 120.00 |
| 6 | Jonathan Yu | 126131 | 2046 | W32 | W14 | L1 | W10 | W15 | 4.0 | 120.00 |
| 7 | Yelizaveta Orlova | 138247 | 2071 | W27 | D2 | L3 | W22 | W16 | 3.5 | |
| 8 | Mark Plotkin | 141086 | 2161 | W29 | W12 | W13 | L1 | L5 | 3.0 | |
| 9 | Alexandru Florea | 138594 | 2133 | W24 | L13 | W28 | L12 | W19 | 3.0 | |
| 10 | Stephan Tonakanian | 150629 | 2107 | L13 | W18 | W29 | L6 | W26 | 3.0 |
Photos!
Nikita Gusev
Jura Ochkoos
Victor Plotkin
Aris Marghetis
Playing Hall
Jackie Peng
Michael Song
Thank you, Egidijus Zeromskis for the photos!
WCM/WNM Yelizaveta Orlova 