The Heusenstammer Sparkassen Open

Wow - quite a success story!  I guess I never played a tournament with such a success - and actually never with such an "ease". Actually, I recognized this "ease" quite a while ago:  almost no time trouble, no total loss of control in terms of completely wrong decisions any longer. And actually even one of my chess pals recognized this "ease" - thanks for letting me know RB!

However (and of course), during these 7 games there was one game (but actually only one - which as such is a success) that I am actually not proud of:  I achieved a totally won middle game against a 2250 player. I knew I had a winning position, not too straight forward, but definitelly winning - even against a 2500 player! I had an extra passed + protected pawn and the machine evalutes the position +1,5 for many moves...

....but...

.... I lost!

Whereas I played by far the best tournament ever, this one loss was the most painfull since a decade or more (no exaggeration)! 

A very interesting thing happened at the board: Psychology kicked in! Very hard and not to my favour at all! All of a sudden I was nervous like a 14 year old before his first kiss; afraid of winning, making a mistake, throwing away the safe full point. All of a sudden I only saw threads against my position - and not a single clear plan or good move for my own position.

It was a healthy loss - because everything I can so easily teach my son was ignored by myself so foolishly. A good reminder to stay cool and - if anyting fails, stick to my PAT! Which for sure would have given me a good basis and routine to keep my first thoughts on ACTIVTY rather than haunting ghosts...