Pictorial report -- "Run! for your life"

"Nod ya head" and check out this pictorial report I created to my writing "Run! -- for your life". (Don't forget to turn on the speakers;))

Now or never -- a fish that tries to fly

Have you ever found yourself in a "now or never" situation? That the opportunity for your so-wished dream to come true is right in front of you, but also there's a chance that you lose it all? Have you ever felt like that?

During tournaments I usually get into such situation. Sometimes it comes with a smaller importance, a few rating points to win or lose. But sometimes a championship's highest places are the prize. And there comes a "now or never" game. The expression 'game' loses its "playful", "fun" feature -- it's whether you achieve for what you had been working for many years or let the chance slip away.

I will never forget the game I played on 16 October 2006. It was the World Junior Chess Championship -- last round, first board. My opponent was the leading player -- in case of her victory she would have become the World Champion. Also for me the game was not at all a child's play: if I had won, I would have tied for the first 4 places, while with a loss I would have finished nowhere -- losing the previous 12 rounds' achievement.


11 o'clock, the round starts. She is much of confidence and I know she is stronger, but I shouldn't think of it. Move follows move. I make a move and the whole audience sees it. Not just the local audience, but anybody in the world. I make a move and it appears immediately on the Internet. I know there were many people following the game. Also at home, in Hungary. Especially the players of my county, they were all watching it: my family, my friends, my trainer. I'm in Yerevan, World Championship, last round, last chance... and I'm much in nerves.

I'm afraid of making a mistake, I'm afraid of spoiling it all. They are watching my game and they believe in me -- and I would like to prove them so much. And to prove for myself as well. Prove that it wasn't just a waste of money, a waste of free time and energy. Prove that it was worth missing those class excursions, those parties, the school community as such... To quit dancing and playing on the flute... Prove that it was worth being an odd fish in the pool. A fish that doesn't want to swim with the others but tries to learn to fly instead.

So there I was standing, or actually sitting -- sitting in front of the opportunity. I got a better position after the opening, but started spoiling my advantage. Time trouble came and one mistake followed another -- I ended up having a bad position. I started to give up in spirit, my dream was about to collapse. But I still had to try, not to throw in the towel. She wasn't a machine either -- that was my only hope.

Then she did it. A mistake, just in the right moment. A mistake that gave me the chance to save the game. And fortunately I knew how to save it. She was trying for some time still, but it was impossible to win that position. An endgame where nobody could do anything. A draw had to be agreed.

The result draw led to her not becoming World Champion, and my not tying up for the first 4 places. Still... I was the happiest person on Earth when the game ended. That handshaking meant to me a place in the top 10. Top 10 in the world, in the entire world. I was about to lose it all, but fortune stood back to my side and gave me another chance. And that chance I didn't spoil. This time I didn't. The whole world was watching... I will never forget that moment.

Run! -- for your life

Guns, weapons, dark streets and cold nights. When your friends turn against you and there is nowhere to hide. Chased like a game -- your own life is the prize.

Actually, my story is not about this. It's less violent and less movie-like, but still a life-threatening phenomenon: the traffic of Yerevan.

Not that there are no traffic-lights at all, but somehow Armenian people tend to care about the signals not the least bit. A turn from there, a reversing here, a sudden braking and nobody can pass. The creaking of wheels, impatient drivers. Loud swearing composes music with the even louder honking. A frequent affair in Yerevan.


What is even more dangerous is being a pedestrian. The usual "left-right-left-let's go" doesn't work here -- you need to develop special methods for safety reasons. Making use of a resident can be a good solution. You wait until he arrives and then hop to it, you follow him as a shadow. A perfect one-side defence. Actually me and my friends had an even better possibility: bodyguards. No, we did not want to employ bodyguards, we were just given them -- God's gift. OK, actually the Israeli Embassy's. They thought Armenia was such a criminal country that the Israeli friends of mine couldn't exist without bodyguards.

So there they were, two men in black, looking after my friends and me, additionally. As for Armenia, the level of crimes is said to be one of the lowest. But bodyguards are multifunctional: they can be tour guides, photographers, entertainers, drivers... And when the life-threatening moment came, there they stood -- one from the left, one from the right -- stopping the cars with the risk of their own lives. A heroic act, indeed.


So if you ever decide to visit the capital of Armenia, as an experienced Yerevan-visitor I can recommend you the following:

1. Employ a bodyguard (safe and tidy, but expensive)
2. Use inhabitants as victims (only one-side defence provided, but cheap)
3. If you can't afford yourself any of the above mentioned, you are in big trouble. There's only one advice I can give you: Run for your life!