Firstly, I feel very lucky to be writing the second one of these reports in such a short space of time.

Secondly, this was my first ever visit to the Netherlands and Amy and I are already looking at the next chance we can go for a break there!

And lastly, of course I needed a lot of luck to go with me this tournament and I kept getting good luck wishes from my much better half, my mascot Freddie, and my new good luck charm of wearing hideously bright odd socks!

FRIDAY:

Arrival along with the vast majority of players, including lennart and Malle who had an 8 1/2 hr delay on their flight! So they definitely win the "longest time from home to venue" for this tournament.

We all met in a cafe in Amsterdam and then took an extremely pretty and scenic trip around the city by boat along all the canals. The draw was done after this whilst in another of the city's bistros.

SATURDAY MORNING:

It always looked like it was going to be a tough group. I knew it would be tough. The tiles got picked out for the draw and I started against Fafa who I had played many times before. I got a hard earned draw, then I scraped a win against Miertje94. A combination of good play and the tiles starting to be kind to me meant that I ended up topping the group and qualifying for the final group on Sunday.

The surprise for the day must have been Chaucus, a relatively unknown quantity from the Netherlands who played extremely well and also qualified for the top group.

SATURDAY NIGHT:

As is the norm for Opens, we all went out to a quaint little place in the city for some very nice local food. Then the games came out. Many played until well into the morning but I was a bit of a lightweight in comparison, heading back just before midnight.

SUNDAY:

The top group was stacked with good players as the order of play was revealed. I think the players who were contesting the final group had won a total 10 opens between them.

The tiles were on my side again through most of the day. Especially against Ben, in what ended up being the deciding game on day two.

Into the final round it was between Ben and me for the title and I was about 13 TPs clear........ the game was a formality surely???? Well, I don't usually go into too much detail about individual games but this deserves it!

I was playing SiRPi and after about 18 tiles I had a guaranteed 26 loop.....so even more like a formality? Well no, because such is the game of tantrix, SiRPi played for a crazy huge loop, and the tiles came and came and came and there was nothing I could do. I ended up with a 18.8-1.2 TP loss. That meant that Ben would probably sneak the title with any win over Rick. Luckily, he had a loss in that game and my potential heart attack was averted!

Such a wonderful group of people made this tournament very special and I hope to return there next year to defend the trophy. If the same people enter (and more) my name will definitley be added to the entry list.

Thanks to everyone :)

Rob Morton

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