Thursday, December 25, 2008

Ready for take off




















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Tomorrow I start with the Schaakfestival Groningen as a warming up for the Corus tournament at the end of januari. I'm in the compact group, 5 games in 5 days at a pace of 40/120,SD/30.
If there are readers out there who visit the tournament (you never know), I would be delighted to shake hands. I'm the only participant with a rating of 1819 in the compactgroup, so it shouldn't be too difficult to find me. Otherwise you have a chance at the Corustournament, where I play in the Tienkampen.

As preparation I have read a lot about positional play. I intended to do some positional exercises too, but every exercise raised so much questions that I ended up reading in stead of exercising. So I don't feel quite ready, but I am in the best shape to learn something (with a lot of buzzing questions in my head and half-formulated answers).

I skipped the opening preparation totally, which is quite liberating.

8 comments:

  1. So far so good, first round a normal win against a 1700+.

    Good luck with all your games from round 2. Hopefully a good endresult will be yours + a feeling of a good preparation for the Corus tournament in january.

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  2. 2.5/3.0! What an excellent start, you are well-poised to place. Good luck in your remaining games. :)

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  3. Thanks guys!
    Margriet is doing equally well in the D-group.

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  4. Capablanca didn't believe in studying openings either. Rather, he felt understanding the principles was more important. Look where it got him. May Capablanca benevolently haunt you! :)

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  5. Congratulations! I see you did place quite well. Hopefully you will post the most interesting games. :)

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