Great tournament

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We had a great tournament at Wijk aan Zee. Lots of fun, friends, chess, beer. We are very tired. Luckily I have taken an extra day off.

Tempo: shared 2nd in a group of 1836 average rating. 5/9: 3 wins, 4 draws, 2 losses. TPR 1870
Margriet: first prize in her group. 7.5/9: 6 wins, 3 draws, no losses! TPR 1631

Margriet finally breaks through her plateau. Not so easy to enter 1500+ when you learned the chess rules at age 45! She already played very well, but the last years she was used to blunder a piece every other game or so. Since she has stopped to try to imitate my style lately and have found her own style the blundering has stopped. I wouldn't be surprised when she passes the 1600 mark within a year or two.

I have proven I can hold my own in a 1836 field, with which I'm very content. A lot of positional errors is made on this level (by both my opponents and me) so that is very reassuring. Lots of room for improvement! For the first time I haven't looked at my opponents openings before a game and just played the board. I played the Polabia with both black and white and two Caro Kanns. So my opponents had plenty of time to prepare for me. To little avail.
For the first time I haven't been in time trouble at all during the whole tournament. That's highly unusual for me! Merits go to positional play in positional openings for this. Damming in the complexity derived from gambits.