Coach Chesswick
Hi Sharvesh Deviprasath!
Congratulations on climbing to 2640 (2025-03-04). Your recent games show creative opening choices and sharp tactical vision. Below is some personalized, constructive feedback to help you convert even more of your promising positions into wins.
1. What you’re doing well
- Dynamic openings. Your preference for the Sicilian (both colours) and Modern setups often leads to imbalanced middlegames where you thrive.
- Calculated aggression. When you sense the initiative you push hard, e.g. the Ne5! break in your last win against therouterunner (see mini-PGN below).
- End-game technique. In the longer games you generally convert extra material smoothly once major pieces are exchanged.
- Consistency of play times. Your results barely fluctuate across the week – see .
2. Key areas to tighten up
- Opening depth vs lower-rated gambits. Two of your recent losses came from early trouble against a Smith-Morra and a French KIA structure. A 15-minute review of main-line antidotes will pay off quickly.
- Respect every opponent. Resigning after 2–3 moves versus sub-700 players costs rating and practice. Stay objective until a concrete disadvantage appears.
- King safety when the queens stay on. Several defeats feature an uncastled king and loose dark squares (…g6 + …b5 positions). Re-evaluate pawn pushes that create permanent hooks (
h3/h4,…h6/…g5) without sufficient piece cover. - Clock management. You sometimes blitz early moves, then burn under 10 seconds in critical calculations. Aim for a steadier distribution – the confirms most of your blunders occur in the final 20 % of the time budget.
3. Illustrative moments
Turning point – converting the initiative
Early collapse – accepting a Smith-Morra pawn too casually
4. Opening homework (bite-sized)
- Versus the Smith-Morra: study
…d3 – …a6 – …e6setups; keep queenside solid, return the pawn if pressured. - French KIA lines: adopt the plan …
e5, …Nge7, …0-0, then break in the centre with …d5. Avoid premature …f6. - Add one low-theory reply as Black to
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3(e.g. {{Link|term|Queen’s Indian}} or {{Link|term|Bogo-Indian}}) to reduce improvisation time.
5. Practical training plan
- Drills: 10 daily puzzles focused on double-attack motifs (forks, discovered checks). Use themes such as {{Link|term|Zwischenzug}} and {{Link|term|Overload}}.
- Sparring games: Play two 10 + 5 games each week with the explicit aim of reaching an endgame; no fast resignations allowed.
- Review routine: Immediately after each session add one diagram of a critical position into a personal notebook with “What I missed” and “How to avoid”.
6. Motivation snapshot
You are currently ~50 points shy of your peak – completely within reach once the opening patches are in place. Stay disciplined, trust your tactical instincts, and that next jump to 2600+ will follow naturally.
Good luck, and enjoy the journey!