Category: Travel
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Happy New Year!
Happy New Years to all our readers (if there are any of you left). We have just flown back from St Petersburg, Russia – where we both participated in the World Rapid and Blitz, Gawain in the Open section and I was able to get a wildcard into the Women’s Section. The tournament itself ran…
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Faroes Open 2018 – Part 1
The tournament is now finished and there’s always that weird feeling once you’ve been in a place for a few weeks with the same people and you then leave it all behind until the next time. We had a great time but as usual I’m very glad to be home and that I we have a…
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Faroes Open
We’ve had the last few months off from playing chess and we are now in the very beautiful Faroe Islands playing in the Faroes Open held in the village of Sandavágur. Many of you might wonder where the Faroe Islands is and I’ll pinpoint it below on the map. I have heard of the Faroes before thanks…
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Summer Holiday: Indonesia, Part Two
After a lovely week in Malaysia we headed with my aunt and cousins to Yogyakarta on the island of Java. I was slightly nervous about flying there as I remember seeing in the news the Air Asia crash but my fears were unfounded. Occasionally I think about plane crashes when we are flying but I…
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Summer Holiday: Malaysia, Part One
I decided that we needed to have a holiday in February as we hadn’t had any sun for the last 5 months(!). I also noticed that we had not visited my family in Malaysia for 4 years so it felt like it was time to head back to my Mum’s hometown, Sungai Pelek. Gerry Graham…
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Back in the UK
After 2 months in the United States, I’ve finally made it back to the UK. I panicked when I was in the taxi on the way to JFK as I realized I was travelling without my Biometrics Card which is needed every time I enter and exit the UK. Luckily for me they weren’t too…
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Announcement and exploring the United States
Hello readers (again), I hope some of you are still reading our blog and yet again I’m so very sorry for not updating more often. Things have been manic job wise for the last few months and now I’m officially unemployed. From now on things will be very different in our household. We are leaving…
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A successful two weeks
On Saturday 9th April I headed back to Munich. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to play much for Munich 1836 this year but at least could drop in en-route to Dubai for the last round. We were in second place, ahead of the other Munich team (Tarrasch) by just one and a half board points, and…
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Reykjavik Open 2016
I’ve now been to Iceland so often that I know how to spell the capital city Reykjavik. It’s one of my most favourite places in the world to visit and it’s such a cool place to be a chess player. Obviously the city is rich in chess history with the “Match of the Century” taking…
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Gawain is the New Zealand Chess Champion
I didn’t want to write any posts before he actually finished his game so here is a delayed post a few days later. Gawain drew his final round against Brazilian GM Alexandr Fier and since all other results were already played it meant that he won the NZ Chess Championship with a score of 7.5/9.…
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Happy New Year and the New Zealand Chess Open
Today is Round 2 of the New Zealand Chess Open. The tournament is being held at the New Zealand National Chess Center in Devonport (weddings can be held in the church venue) – the brainchild of NZ’s only GM Murray Chandler. You can read more about the chess center here. There are 6 Grandmasters in…
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Abu Dhabi Masters
I’m writing this from the lobby of the Sofitel Hotel in Abu Dhabi. The tournament has just finished and at least I remembered how to play a little. Scored 6.5/9 and came 8th. Results. A big congratulations to my friend, Nils Grandelius, who had a great time and won the tournament. A cool $12,000 to…
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Paris in the Springtime
I’m lucky enough to be able to travel in my job (not as much as Ga) and this time we headed to Paris. I didn’t know what to expect as I’ve never been before – we were meant to go for my friend Larissa’s 21st but unfortunately during this time I had my passport/visa issues…
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A sunny week in June
Early June I played in the Swiss Rapid Chess Masters, a well organised one day tournament in Pfaffikon on Lake Zurich. I received a pleasant surprise on arrival with a gift of a bag of Swiss chocolates waiting for me in my room. The weather was really good and I decided to take a walk…
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Recent developments
So my intention was to write a tournament update for each of my tournaments played since the Icelandic League but that isn’t really viable so I’ve decided to round it all up in one update. Going back to March I played the Reykjavik Open. I started with a couple of quick wins but then…
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Zalakaros Open – Round up
Our time in Zalakaros came and went so quickly! It feels like we’ve been here forever (just over a week) but we haven’t been able to do so much. It’s weird when I’m explaining to our non chess playing friends what your schedule is like when you are playing a tournament. They really can’t believe…