Evaluating the tournament

 That was another great tournament! I played some wonderful games.

In simplified terms:

• In one game, I was outplayed by a 12-year-old kid with a rating of about 1500. He eventually finished second in my group.
• In the remaining 8 games, I was winning at some point.
• Yet the final result of those remaining 8 games is meager: 1 win, 1 loss, and the rest draws.

Over the past year, I have focused primarily on my opening repertoire and positional play. I haven't lost any more points due to my openings or positional play. I still see many opportunities for improvement in those areas, but they are clearly not a priority anymore.

You can compare me to a soccer team without finishers. I play excellently, but I don't score. These are the two 'finishers' that are missing:

• tactics (combinations)
• endgame strategy

I played a draw against a woman, who is the partner of an International Master. She showed the game to him. He said I played excellently, but that I had botched the endgame.

My group in this tournament has many young kids with unreliable (= far too low) ratings. Often these are youth players who, under the guidance of their coaches, use the adults as 'punching bags' to climb the ranks. Mostly Eastern Europeans, Indians, and Chinese. This has worsened since last year because many seniors have fled to the veterans' group. They only play five games. 

So I will likely lose some rating points. But that’s not important; it will balance itself out eventually.

What needs to happen:

Tactics

• Done: 750 patterns
• To do: 2560 patterns

Duration: 7 years at an average pace of 1 per day. Hopefully, I can speed this up a bit due to my retirement. I consider it proven once again in this tournament that my method works.

Endgame strategy

I estimate I need between 2 and 4 years to reach the desired level. It’s possible I’ll see results sooner if 'the penny drops', as happened with positional play.

In 2 to 4 years, I should be able to reach a rating of 1950 (starting point 1700). Beating the kid I played in this tournament requires more. He played more like a 2000+. I already have some ideas about that, but for now, that is pure speculation.