Nice, ain't it?

I was grasping a flower in my hand on the last day of the Cappelle-la-Grande tournament. A glistening red and yellow rose, a really nice one. I was walking up and down with it in the tournament hall. Walking up and down with it while everybody was guessing who I got it from. I just kept on smiling and being proud at this tiny stunner.

Wasn't the first time in my life, of course, that I received a flower. I merit a rose or a bouquet of flower usually for my chess achievements. A kind of a present and I really like it.

The other option is obtaining a flower for personal reasons, like from a guy at a rendezvous. Occasionally it happens to me, too, and I'm glad for it.


But this red and yellow little wonder could make me even happier. Because this flower was something different. This flower was special. It wasn't a recognition of chess results, no. Wasn't a proposal for a date either.

So what it was? -- A gentle gesture. The reason for my reaping the rose was simply this: being nice. I've got the flower because of being nice. "It's from all the Spanish guys because you were so nice to us" -- David stated, and all I can say is a big thank you, with smiling-proud face.

So muchas gracias, amigos!


(Click here for the source of the picture.)

Good enough

I have some moments when I find myself being not satisfied with what I've got. Sometimes it's in connection with my outlook: to be somewhat fatter, to need bigger size in bra, to grow above my sister in height, to have darker eyelashes and whatever.

At other moments I'm disappointed of a tournament, a lost game, a missed prize, a not-that-well performed presentation or a less successful test. I have these moments when nothing is good enough.

And I guess many other human-creatures -- if not all of them -- have such moments, too. Concerning different topics but same disappointment. Seems like the more we have the more we want.

I was bothering myself with such 'problems' this morning as well. And then Life the wise came and smacked me in the face. It arrived in the form of a walk, just a single walk. A walk nearby rag-beds, newspaper shelters -- smutty-faced inhabitants.

Just try to stare into their eyes and say you are not lucky enough.

A so-wished award

Oh, wow... I didn't think it could happen to me... Getting such an award... Cheerful applause, smiling faces, flashes of lights -- and I am at a loss for words. Hesitating for a while... OK, let's have a go with the usual clichés.

I would like to say thanks to my family who always supported me: my parents, my sister, my grandmothers, my godmother, my cousins. To my friends, the neighbours, and to Gmail for bringing me the good news.

Special thanks to my mother for teaching me how to speak and write, and for my teachers who helped me improving my language skills -- Hungarian and English, from primary school to uni. I'm grateful to the tournaments abroad for bringing me into a "forced to speak in English" situation and to my foreign friends for making me write regularly in English. I'm much obliged to my friends for being my friends.

I greatly appreciate my cousin's supporting my living in England during the postponed university year. I would also like to express my gratitude to Abra Wholesales, Marian Mission, AYS and Teaching Personnel for employing me and providing the financial base of my London stay.

I'm thankful to my father for teaching me how to use the computer, and to my penfriends for improving my typing skills. I recognize the Matáv-T-com company for supplying me with Internet and the Blogspot site for the wonderful service they provided.

Though, I want to reserve the most special thanks for the Reading & Writing course -- with its great teacher, Joe, and his superb students. Without Joe's fantastic idea, the task for blogging, I couldn't even dream of this prize -- also, he showed me how to fly. :) I'm most grateful to my classmates for being so nice, friendly, helpful, funny, cool, and... thanks for their nominations and votes, too. :)

All in all, thank you guys! I've never ever got a Blogscar before. ;)


(Click here for the source of the picture.)

Pride but prejudice

Too fat, too short, too skinny or too tall. Brown, black or yellow skin. Wider nose, rougher hair, oriental eyes. A Jew, a Gipsy, a Chinese, a "Negro". A girl with girlfriend or a guy with boyfriend. A geek, a policeman, a poor.
Let's just exclude all of them from society.

'Cause every Rom is a swindler, no policeman can have brain and Chinese are definitely less valuable people. If you are fat from Burger King, you are also out -- can't belong to Us, us with capital "u". Calling somebody a "Jew" or a "Negro" is abusive in itself, so what do you want with such origins?! Want to marry your girlfriend, you, as a woman?! Oh, gosh! Eager beaver in school? Go away! No money for stylish stuffs? What a shame!
Let's just exclude all of them from Us. From Us, from 'normal people'.

But since when does your birth place can issue who you are? Since when does your blood decides your being good or not? Since when does loving your own gender makes you a worse person? Since when does having less money indicates your being of a lower value? Since when does a 'worse' outlook means a worse personality? Since when...?!

Since when can people judge others so superficially -- according to prejudices and stereotypes?

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!