Streamer Portrait - Wouter 'Bikfoot' Bik
They say he has big feet but I cannot confirm that - but I can confirm a big heart - full of passion, joy and chess (of course). I followed him for a while now - give and take - a year.
His first game on chess.com was the eleventh of may 2014 and he won against a guy living in the UK but his username has some leads to it - he's probably from Iceland, could be Norway but I doubt it. Anyway, his opponent resigns at move 43, Bikfoot putting down his feet at d7 and says: - I'm going to get me a queen. What are you going to do?
And the rest is history.
A note though - his opponents last login was the sixteenth of June 2014 and I wonder why? What happened? Is it a conspiracy? Couldn't he take the heat? Is he alive? Did he join James Bond in the pursuit of some devious criminal.
Enough! I'm getting carried away - back to business.
As you can see on the board, Wouter plays E4 as white and he still does but I guess he widened his openings, after all, five years has past. I also play E4. So we have something in common. First I wanted to analyse this game but my chess-skills aren't that great but it could be funny, I guess my notes would bring a smile (or tears) to your faces. So my notes are: - He played E4!
click image and watch the video
I found this clip doing some research, so that means he gets along with women too. In the video we see three happy humans, Wouter Bik, Anna Rudolf and Alexandra Botez - all tree of them are regular streamers on twitch and sometimes on chesstv. So if you aren't watching - you should start - they're amazing young individuals. I remember a trashtalk matchup between Alexandra and Bik and it was very entertaining.
Who said chess is boring to watch. Who? Can't hear you.
Poggers, this young gentleman has grown on me, on a lot of people actually, no wonder - he's just himself. And for that he gets 5 stars. Brightening up the evenings and sometimes nights, days even. I know he learned chess young and later on, he taught himself - playing against engines and learning from mistakes. I guess there's more to it than that but it's pretty amazing. He's fast - tricky and I never seen him tilt. Salute!
He reviews PCL-games together with Levy Rozman (another great streamer). They both work good together. Bikfoot has excellent taste in music which you all will notice when you pop by his stream. He does coaching too - at a very fair price - I jumped on the train and had my first session over Skype and let me tell you, working fine for me - already booked another one and will try to do that twice a month.
But I have to do the work, that's the thing with coaching - you could have the best coach ever but if you don't do your homework - it's useless having one. Also - lets say you get Magnus Carlsen as a coach - just because he's the best player ever (my opinion, let's leave it at that), doesn't mean he's the best coach for you. You have to click as individuals, human chemistry and and and ... but when that's the case - let's just say - it helps you improve. My first homework was doing tactics and to reach 1350 (done that). Second thing is to play three 15/10 games and at the nest session he wants me to explain my thought process. I played one doing just that (talking to myself when I play) - two more to go.
A young Wouter Bik (can you find him?)
I hope you visit his stream, maybe join his chess club and participate in his tournaments together with great people. Just pop by, say hello or say nothing and just hang out.
Your's "JackieTheSwede"
