A Little Faith

Highlights

Follow Natalia on Twitter:

Please help Natalia promote chess by making a donation:

Link to Pogonina.com

Check qyto.jp for Japanese bitcoin casinos.

Here you can find Swedish sites without license, Spelkonto utan licens.

Find new casinos at the brand new Online Casinos XYZ site with reviews and ratings of the best gambling sites for UK players.

Play the popular King Kong Cash slot machine at Slot Strike, the new slot site for UK players.

Grab the chance to win big with a high RTP on the goonies slot progressive jackpot.

Goodluckmate.com - made an easier way to find Skrill casinos

Nettikasinot.media lists the best online casinos for Finnish gamblers. For more information visit: https://www.nettikasinot.media/suomalaiset-kasinot/

Sweden is now a regulated market, which means that as a player you can only play at casinos with a license. See all regulated casinos in Sweden by Mr casinova.

To find the best casino in Norway take look at norske casino at CasinoPiloten.

Find the best Norwegian casinobonus at NyeCasinoNorge.org.

Get exclusive access to a huge range of free spins & no deposit casino offers with Spin Bonus.

Try the exhilarating new 20p Roulette game. Play it online at thecasinodb and find casinos to play for real money.

Get the best casino bonus information with Casino Gorilla.

Chess games at Gametop

CasinoAdvisers.com – For you that want to find online casino strategies, guides and a good casino bonus!

More...

Polls

What's your FIDE rating?

What should Natalia do to make Pogonina.com more interesting for you?

	Annotate her classical games
	Blog more often (personal notes)
	Play a Pogonina vs. Pogonina.com's audience game
	Upload a home video to the website
	Publish more chess news & puzzles
	Add a forum to the website

Who is your favorite active top player?

Poker or chess: what do you like more?

	Chess
	Poker
	Equally attractive/unattractive
	Don't know

What's the largest monetary chess prize you ever won?

How much time per day do you spend on chess-related activities?

Do you have a special chess mascot (pen, badge, toy, etc.)?

	Yes
	No
	I used to have one, but now I don't

Which time control do you prefer for over-the-board tournaments?

	Blitz (5 minutes/game or less)
	Rapid (about 30 min/game)
	Standard (2 hours/game or more)
	For some reason, I don't have a preference

The strongest women's chess team in the world is

	Russian
	Chinese
	Other

What is the strongest national chess team in the world?

Will Magnus Carlsen's rating reach FIDE 2900?

	Yes
	No

Do you think you can become a GM?

	Yes
	No
	Theoretically - yes, practically - no
	I am a GM already
	What is a GM?

Written by Administrator

Friday, 23 May 2014

By WGM Irina Bulmaga, Romania.
Best FIDE rating: 2410

Another rainy day has come with some inspiration for a new post. Unlike one must think, it's not another sad text, it is an optimistic one today

As you might have seen, I played an Open in Iasi, in the city where I live the most part of the time. It was a very nice tournament, one which I hope will become traditional.

The tournament started very well for me, with 3/3p, beating a 2530 GM in the 3rd round and with a totally winning position in the 4th game, with me having black against a strong GM. Unfortunately I lost that game, I guess I felt the victory to close and it made me play some unexplainable moves... All in all, the tournament went pretty good for me, I won some Elo points and I had some very nice time.You can find the final standings here.

Iasi has changed a lot in the last few years. It has become a very beautiful city, with lots of nice places. It felt very good to be "the host" and to show my friends my favorite places.

     As about what's next, I will play the Romanian Rapid Club Cup in the upcoming weekend. Until then, I am quite caught up with all kind of projects I have to make at University.

      I will not play any tournaments until July, when I'm going to participate at the European Individual Women Championship, in Plovdiv.

      As about June, it is going to be a month full of exams for me, but I am quite optimistic about them

I don't know if it's about the summer coming closer and closer, or about something else, but I have started to look to the future with more confidence and the things have started to get better. All I could complain about some weeks ago is not such a big deal now.

I guess that "good always wins", just have a little faith.