Day five at TATA Steel chess - My opponent played WHAT?

Hi all! Time to post a blog on the adventures that I'll have at TATA steel chess. I'll be playing the amateur ten camp - ten days and 9 rounds of intense chess right next to the pro players. This will be day one of my blog and I will stream the analysis of my games every day. So sit back, relax and enjoy the content!

Make sure to follow me on my twitch channel where I will live stream the analysis of my games and tell you all the on site chess gossips! https://www.twitch.tv/bikfoot

• Part one: https://www.chess.com/blog/Bikfoot/day-one-at-tata-steel-chess-not-off-to-a-great-start
• Part two: https://www.chess.com/blog/Bikfoot/day-two-at-tata-steel-chess-the-best-defense-is-good-offense
• Part three: https://www.chess.com/blog/Bikfoot/day-three-at-tata-steel-chess-bishops-rule
• Part four: https://www.chess.com/blog/Bikfoot/day-four-at-tata-steel-chess-why-didnt-i-just-take-the-draw-offer
• Part six: https://www.chess.com/blog/Bikfoot/day-six-at-tata-steel-chess-i-had-to-fight-really-hard-to-draw-this
• Part seven: https://www.chess.com/blog/Bikfoot/day-seven-at-tata-steel-chess-twenty-minutes-too-late
• Part eight: https://www.chess.com/blog/Bikfoot/day-eight-at-tata-steel-chess-facing-the-the-undefeated-tournament-leader
• Final part: https://www.chess.com/blog/Bikfoot/final-day-at-tata-steel-chess-i-won-my-tournament

I've been slacking a bit with my daily blogs, so I'll be sure to bust a few out today haha, so everyone will have plenty of reading material! Today I was playing with the black pieces against Jeroen Eijgelaar,  who probably is the strongest player in the poule with a rating of 1910. After I had my daily routine, where I had breakfast, a shower and a powernap, I got to the playing hall ready to face my opponent. As always, the full game can be found all the way below, and during this blog I will show nice position and key combinations. Let's get ready to ruummblleeeeeeee

The game

If you're an active follower of my streams (Which you should be! Follow me on www.twitch.tv/bikfoot) then you know that I love my modern/King Indian Defence kind of positions. That's why I got relieved with the fact that I actually got this on the board a few moves in! In the below positions I played a few moves where didn't just got my lovely opening in - I also developed my light square bishop with a tempo, marvelous!

It's not like black is winning here, far from. But it did feel really, really nice to get that bishop out with brings me to the next question. Should I castle short or long further into the game? We'll save that question for later - since a few moves in we reached the following position where white has to trade of his bishop for the knight on f5, since he doesn't want him jumping to d4!

Position after 14... Nf5

Six moves later, I decided to castle long and rearrange my bishops to point at the enemy king. I played my game very slowly and calculated, not forcing pawns or doing something crazy. However, I did need my opponent to kind of work with me to take advantage of a mistake.. but he played really solid. This was the position:

Position after 21... Bf5

Black has a small edge, but I wasn't sure how to convert this to a winning game. After the game was finished, I analyzed the game with Challengers GM Lucas van Foreest and IM Max Warmerdam, who pointed out that I should have just kept the bishop pair and slowly should apply pressure. I didn't do this however... but my opponent made a huge blunder!

Position after 26. Qe3??

Now my fellow chess enthusiasts... it's up to you. Punish white here and win the game!

After Qc3+ my opponent resigned and we analyzed the game with a beer afterwards. It was a really nice guy and the game was a ton of fun. Tomorrow my dear friend GM Roeland Pruijssers will come over and we'll have a drink together in the evening. Can't wait!

As always, the full game can be found below, enjoy

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