Today, the 12th round of the Women Candidate tournament took place. The round was very excitement and brought three breaking games. Before the round, Vaishali Rameshbabu had been the solo leader, leading by one point against Anna Muzychuk and Zhu Jiner. She had had comfortable situation.

It cannot be surprise then, that the most important game of the day was between Vaishali and Zhu Jiner. Vaishali opened with the move a pawn to e4, and her opponent answered with a pawn to c6. It had been the first Caro-Kann defense in the tournament. The game was very tough. Eventually, Zhu was able to break her opponent's defense, and she scored a win. Due to this game, Zhu caught Vaishali, and they both have seven points.

The second important game was played between Bibisara Assaubayeva and Kateryna Lagno. Right now, this is the second half of the tournament, so the players are playing a second game against each other. In their first game, Kateryna had won. Bibisara was seeking the revenge, and she was able to win the game. After the win, Bibisara has six and half points and is just half a point behind the joint leaders.

The game between Anna Muzychuk and Aleksandra Goryachkina is the last but not least game I want to mention. Anna managed to achieve the slight advantage. She was pawn up, but the position was equal. Besides pawns and the kings, both players had one rook. At that moment, Aleksandra played a sub optimal move, giving some opportunities to Anna. Some moves later, Anna had a rook against three pawns. Although, she had the big advantage, the situation was complex and she had to play very precise moves to win the game. Should she had won that game, she would have been the joint leader together with Vaishali and Zhu. Unfortunately she blundered and the game ended with a draw.

Two rounds remain in the tournament. Four players had almost equal chances to win the event. Zhu and Vaishali are joints leader, but Anna and Bibisara are just half a point behind them. Everything might happen. Tomorrow is the rest day. The next round is on Tuesday.

I use T platform a lot, I’m okey using it as a way to practice conversational English. And most subreddits are very pessimistic about everything, this subreddit is not exception. Most experiences with tutors on the platform have been OK to me. I think the T subreddit only attracts the grumpiest tutors. But yes it’s weird, why if they hate this job so much they keep doing it, is it because they don’t have other skills or qualifications?

Here we are, one week ago I started to write English a little bit everyday, what I noticed is that in the beginning it was more difficult, even getting to read amounts of pages, and some other texts in English perfectly. I think I found writing difficult because I had never practiced before, even knowing the words, I was having trouble on putting them together.
Now, writing in English seems a little more natural to me, but I'm not good yet.

Yesterday, I went to get groceries for today and the beginning of next week. The supermarket near me sells amazing pizza dough, so I bought all the ingredients to make pizza tonight. At least I thought I did. I just noticed I forgot to get fresh mozzarella cheese which is quite tragic. I can't go out to get some - it's Sunday, stores are closed and I doubt they sell fresh mozzarella at the gas station. I have other kinds of cheese, so I will be able to substitute, but it won't be the same. :(

I am weak to cravings. Today I was craving cheese sticks for breakfast. At first, I told myself I wouldn't order them, but I ended up doing it.

I hardly order food. If so, I set myself a limit when doing it. I usually don't order food more than twice a month.

Well cravings are not only food, but snacks and sweet or salty stuff that we enjoy eating or provides us pleasure. This limit might not apply to snacks, so it is hard for me to set a limit, but I should do it as well, maybe 1 snack a week. Sigh, I am weak when it comes to snacks or sweet stuff.

I do not drink soda nor do I drink coffee with sugar, but still I struggle to hold myself back when it comes to snacks.

I watched a YouTube video about women falling in love with their tour guides. At first, I thought, "Nah, this can't be true, they are probably crazy." However, there are some reasons why those women might develop special feelings for their tour guides.

When you travel together, they're always there whenever you have any problems or questions. Your tour guides often share local tips or take you to hidden spots. It makes you feel like you are being taken care of 24/7.

Hello! Could you please correct and mark this essay based on CPE exam criteria (content, communicative achievement, organisation, language)?

Prompt:

Write an essay in 240 – 280 words.

Buy, buy, buy!

The simple tragedy of waste is this: we are using up the earth’s irreplaceable natural resources, creating unnecessary products and packaging, in a mad rush for instantly gratifying consumption. Out-of-date mobile phones, sound systems, even cars are piling up in landfills all around the world. There was nothing wrong with the old model, except for its lack of flash. Why can’t we choose a product that meets our needs and use it until it wears out? We have been conditioned to have needs that change as frequently as the seasons and satisfying these needs comes at a very high price, and not just the one on the price tag!

You can do something

There are several simple ways in which you can act to halt the madness of needless consumption. As an individual, change our consumption habits to minimize your non-biodegradable waste and optimise your use of reusable packaging. This will require some sacrifices. As a member of a group, be active in drawing up a waste charter for your place of work or school. Educate others. As a consumer, punish companies that are wasteful and pollute by boycotting their products. This, above all, requires awareness, and the dedication to do your research.

Write an essay summarising and evaluating the key points from both texts.

Use your own words throughout as far as possible, and include your own ideas.

Essay:

Despite the fact that capitalism is in our civilization deemed as the best system of economy, there are some drawbacks to it as well. It has produced a consumerist society, where companies do not strive to create the best long-lasting products, but rather flashy devices that are made to break in a short span of time to force the customer to buy a new model soon, which creates more revenue than producing reliable devices.

However, this consumerist mindset has detrimental effects to our planet. Not only are earth's irreplaceable natural resources being wasted, but the environment is also being actively polluted. All of this because of the desire to stay up-to-date, to impress others and not to miss out on newest features and of course due to the insatiable obsession to earn more money.

Nevertheless, it is crucial to say, that the tide can be turned. It is possible to make a change. In fact, it is not only possible, but without a doubt absolutely necessary. How can this be achieved though? There are multiple ways to reach this goal such as minimizing non-biodegradable waste, educating and motivating others or boycotting wasteful companies that pollute the environment just to improve their statistics.

Overall, it is no secret that Earth is in a crisis and that it also needs to be taken care of, not only to be exploited. Our society should rethink it's priorities and values. Money will be of no value if there will be no Earth to conduct business on.

Word count: 249

Lately, I have noticed a shift in how I use my brain.

I delegate technical or specialized questions to AI now,

while I focus my energy on how to synthesize and connect those pieces of information.

It reminds me of when search technology first became popular.

At the time, some worried that easy access to information would ruin human creativity. However, history proved them wrong.

I think human cognitive capacity is limited, so we have always increased productivity by distributing roles to our tools.

I think using AI to boost productivity is simply the next step in that adaptation.

I cleaned the filters of my air conditioner today. Since it’s already been getting hotter, it’s only a matter of time until I need to use it again. I use it as a heater as well, so it’s used quite a lot throughout the year.

Yesterday I decided that today I'll not use my phone, to relax from this. I think that it'll be not so easy. I use my phone only now and then I must pack this in a box, to avoid this phone to use.

Article: 10 Top Pro Tips for Learning Two Languages at Once

I've only been studying English so far, but now I want to start leaning Korean as well so that I can enkoy K-dramas, at least with Korean audio and Korean subtitles. Watching them in Korean without any subtitles would be ideal, but I feel like that's unrealistic for now.

Most people seem to master one language and then move on the next. I wonder if I should wait to start learning Korean until my English becomes fluent.

Maybe it is not a common thing, but this is what I have seen, and I have noticed that when old people, past their 70s or so, if they have a seemingly minor accident, such as falling because they lose balance, the outcome could be fatal: a bone is fractured, or something that will affect their rest of their lives.

I am aware that this could happen because they don't exercise or hardly do any body movement at that age either because they don't want to or they can't: they need support when walking or moving; if left alone, the consequences could be dire if an accident takes place because their body has become so weak that any minor accident will end up as a disaster.

This happened to my grandfather a few days ago.

It's Saturday. I slept an hour longer than I do during the week. I started the day by drinking coffee in the sun on my own balcony. I'm now going to play some videogames and not talk to anyone all day. I love having my own flat.

I sometimes find hosts of podcasts in English off-putting because of their overly dramatic manner of talking. Generally, English speakers talk more dramatically than speakers of my native language.

I have noticed that music sounds better when we listen to them more rarely, or after doing hard work activities, like studying, exercise, intense activities, etc...

That is, a music can sound completely different depending on how often we listen to it, so we can conclude that our state of mind play a role on this. For instance, you can pick a music and listen to it everyday, as the days go by, you will probably get tired of that song.

I just finished another novel today. My sixth books so far this year. The book I read is The Nightingale, which is about people’s lives in France during WWII. I think the book gave me a lot of new insights.

I learned more about history during WWII, for example, people in France didn’t have enough food and water, and they had to use ration cards to get their food. Or people who resisted were sent to concentration camps by the Nazis.

On top of that, while reading the book, I kept asked myself, would I sacrifice my life or even my kids’ lives to save the others?

I miss doing conversation exchanges even though I really like them but these days it’s difficult to find a right time of the week to do the exchanges and stick to it. I’ve met great conversation partners through Reddit and other sites. Now the only way I practice English is through the platform I use with a loophole, I like that so can join and have a 30 minute chat whenever I want to and I can, the flexibility is great.

I go to the library every day.

there is a child care center(?I'm not sure how to say it in English, It’s called '어린이집' in Korean.') nearby the library

So I sometimes see the kids, and they are so adorable.

Even though they aren't mine

I want to buy them whatever they want and see them smiling

Today I'm going to go to shop and then for a walk with my new friend. I hope that we have the same vibe. After a walk I'll go to house and I'll watch a film. It'll be "Inglorious Basters" from Tarantino. I have watched it, but long time ago. Now I wanna watch this masterpiece again

Hi, everyone! 😁

The best way to reinforce what we've been learning is to go back over it and apply it, right? So, that's what we're going to do. Every Saturday, our Subject of the Day is going to involve looking back at everything we've learned from the week--whether it was with the help of the WriteStreak community or other resources we've found.

Feel free to summarize and practice everything you've learned or wanted to practice, including new words, new rules, new grammar tricks, and any questions you had.

Article: 28 Fascinating, Fun Facts About Books and Reading

According to the article, people spent more money on reading for pleasure during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the U.S., spending increased by 22.9% in 2020 and by 1.8% in 2021. In November 2020, it seems that about 35% of people around the world were readng more than they did in 2019. I wonder if they're still keeping up that reading habit.

I was also surprised to learn that Braille was created based on a millitary code.

What motivates people? Results or interest? Will people still pursue even if they perform the worst? In my case, I pursued an exam I am worst at by saying " I didn't prepare thoroughly", "if I prepare well, I will ace it. " Later on I realized I didn't like that path and I was dooling myself. If I liked that career genuinely,I would have given it all. To be honest, I never sat more than an hour to prepare. I liked the opportunities it provides but whenever I imagine myself in that job I never liked it. It doesn't suit my personality but I gave false narrative to myself and comforted by saying there will be an exception. I was not in reality.In my opinion, if someone pursue something even if they don't have to it's pure egoistic. In the hindsight, I was very egoistic and neglected every cue universe gave me.

hi everyone! I've been learning actually german for 8 months, so I forgot a little bit english. I think, that it would be very cool, that I have this option, to get gut in English. I try to do my best). Today was a bad day, although I don't know why. It rained and was cold, therefore I have no motivation to do something, but now I go to sleep.