The first round from the Split Open. I faced a Dutch FM in the Prins Sicilian and made my position living hell because of a bad miscalculation I made in the opening.

2019 Split Open, Round 1, 08/04/2019, S. Tomic (1920) vs FM T. Dijkhuis (2395), Prins Sicilian

First rounds of Swiss tournaments are tough. Always. I face 2300-2400 players with little to no prep and struggle to survive. This game was just like that. I played a young and very strong Fm in an opening I know, but I went for a variation I wasn’t sure about. I knew two other continuations, and to make matters worse, one of them I’d played a month ago! Still, I decided to complicate and go for a position I didn’t have on the board in my prep, but I thought was good for me. Needless to say it wasn’t.

I was worse out of the opening and struggled to survive.

I have started a correspondence game against you guys:) I have made my first move in this video (e4). From now on, I will make a move at the start of each new video. You can then comment with your suggested response, and whichever move gets the most votes will be played in the next video! Good luck!

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. f3 e5 6. Nb3 d5 7. Bg5 d4 8. c3 Nc6
9. Bb5 Qb6 10. Bxc6+ bxc6 11. cxd4 Ba6 12. Qd2 Rd8
13. Bxf6 gxf6 14. d5 cxd5 15. exd5 Bb4 16. Nc3 O-O
17. O-O-O Bxc3 18. bxc3 Bc4 19. d6 Rb8 20. Qb2 a5
21. Qa3 Qe3+ 22. Kb2 a4 23. Qxa4 Qe2+ 24. Kc1 Ra8
25. Na5 Be6 26. Rhe1 Qa6 27. Rxe5 fxe5 28. Qh4 f6 0 – 1

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