After yesterday’s debacle, I was of course a bit shaken. A lot was going through my mind. How could this have happened? Why did I make such strange decisions and ignore both my instincts and my calculations? Why did I let myself get so wound up, even though I know that’s exactly what he’s hoping for? Why couldn’t I manage to assess positions objectively? We tried to find answers to all these questions in the evening. Besides that, you always have to look at the positive side of things. There was plenty to criticize in my play, but not in my fighting spirit. So I was satisfied with that. Even when I'm in a completely lost position, I can still snatch a point from the gates of hell.
For the seventh game, I actually just wanted to continue in the same way as in the first five games. But at the same time, I suddenly had this feeling that I no longer really knew what to do to get a decent game. My self-confidence is often not very high during games, but now it was truly damaged. So far, he had managed to neutralize everything. And while his play isn’t exactly inspiring, he’s the only one who has gotten a serious chance. How can that happen? What am I doing wrong? Should I completely change course after all?
We decided to take a closer look at one opening, and in the end I decided to just play it. Nothing spectacular, but we had found some nice little lines, and I had to choose something.