Opening Ceremony

     The Women's World Team Chess Championship has officially started!
     We've attended the Opening Ceremony and it's been quite nice! Cristina picked the 2nd number for us- let's hope it will be a lucky one! We went for a festive dinner afterwards, followed by a team meating :)
     Here are some photos from the Opening Ceremony:

Our team: from left to right: Cristina Foisor, Alina l'Ami, me, Luminita Cosma, Gergely Szabo and Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky

The favourite nr.1: Ukraine

The favourite nr.3: Russia (and our opponent in the 1st round)

The Chinese team

The USA

India

France

Kazakhstan

Turkey

Kazakstan's Dinara Saduakassova receiving the WGM title from the FIDE president-Kirsan Ilyumzhinov

Gulishkan Nakhbayeva also received her WGM title

Local singers

From left to right: Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky, Alina l'Ami, Cristina Foisor, Luminita Cosma and me

     We play against Russia in the 1st round, with white on the 1st board. Here's their team composition:

1	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2495	RUS
2	IM	Gunina Valentina	2505	RUS
3	WGM	Pogonina Natalija	2475	RUS
4	IM	Galliamova Alisa	2459	RUS
5	WGM	Girya Olga	2440	RUS

     The exact board order and the player who's going to rest in the 1st round is going to be known tomorrow morning, at 11 am. The round will be played at 3 pm and here's the official site, where you can follow the games and the live commentary: http://astana2013.fide.com/en/teams/78-live-games

Keep your fingers crossed for us!