Coach Chesswick
Roman Garifullin – Personal Coaching Report
Quick Stats
Your Blitz peak: 2565 (2019-04-22)
When you score best:
What You Already Do Well
- Fighting spirit & end-game technique. You keep games alive and often bring home tricky pawn endings (see the h-pawn march vs pdgvis).
- Dynamic openings. English as White plus Benko-style and Trompowsky set-ups as Black give you sharp, unbalanced middlegames where you feel at home.
- Board vision in simplified positions. Once the queens come off you coordinate rooks and push passed pawns confidently.
Main Areas to Improve
- King safety & piece coordination.
Early leaps such as …Ng4 (loss vs Artem Smirnov) expose your king and leave pieces scattered. Build a “safety stop-light”: before any forcing sequence ask “Is my king safe? Are my pieces connected?”. - Tactical alertness.
Missed intermezzos (exf8=Q+), forks and back-rank tricks cost several games. • 10 min daily of themed puzzles: deflection, double-attack, zwischenzug. • In blitz, spend one extra second after each move scanning for opponent checks, captures, threats. - Time management.
You often reach move 15 with <90 s despite playing familiar positions. • Drill your repertoire with flash cards until the first 12 moves are near-instant. • Play a few 1-minute arenas; the forced “autopilot” will teach you to trust your intuition in obvious positions. - Opening fine-tuning.
• English IQP structures: study plans with Nd2-b3, Rc1, Bf4 instead of passive setups.
• Benko Gambit: prepare vs 4.Nf3 & 4.a4 decline lines.
• Against Trompowsky keep the knight on f6 and meet Bg5 with …h6 & …g5 only after castling; this keeps the king safer and pieces connected.
Illustrative Highlight
A clean conversion from your win vs PdgVis:
4-Week Training Plan
| Theme | Weekly Target |
|---|---|
| Tactics | 150 puzzles, 80 % accuracy (focus on intermezzo & deflection) |
| Openings | Annotate 3 Benko-declined games; update repertoire file |
| Middlegame | Study 2 GM games with IQP; write key plans in notebook |
| Practical play | 30 blitz + 5 rapid games; review only moves <−1.0 immediately after play |
Move-by-Move Safety Checklist
- Opponent’s checks, captures, threats?
- Can I improve my worst-placed piece?
- Is my king safe if the center opens?
Final Thoughts
You are already performing at a very high level; shoring up king safety and sharpening tactical vision should push you comfortably beyond the 2500 blitz mark. Stay disciplined, review each session, and enjoy the climb. Good luck, Roman!