22 February 2010
Week-ends normally are very quiet, I receive fewer emails and phone calls than usual and I can dedicate myself to do some fun new things.
On Saturday I had my Spanish lesson. I’m learning Spanish since in April and in May I’m planning to visit Colombia again and Peru for the first time and I want to be able to understand and speak with people there. It’s great to learn a new language, in a sense it’s like learning to play chess, new words and expressions are like chess moves and combinations.
My lesson was in Bayside in Miami, outside in the patio of a coffee shop. During my lesson I noticed a man sitting at a chess board, playing some moves on his own. He looked sad not to have any partner to play with.
After my lesson I went over to him and offered to play a game with him. He asked me if I knew how to play chess, and I said “Well, a little” 😉
He agreed to play and I suppose was surprised that “a girl” was giving him trouble, at the end of the game he was very disappointed to lose. He was wondering how to tell his friends that he had lost against a girl. So I told him that I’m the women’s world champion and he didn’t look that sad any more after that!
A little tricky from my side, was it not? 🙂
On Sunday I took part in another 5K race, this time in Miami Beach. It’s such a great feeling and atmosphere to start your day with a run on Ocean Drive with several hundreds more people. This time I improved my time and finished the run in 22:01 which is in 37 seconds better than last Sunday. I’ll write more about my race with photos in a future post very soon.
How fast do you run a 5K? Or you have other favorite distances or sports to do?
Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women’s World Chess Champion
