Mark Stephens NM

Hi Mark, here is your personalised performance review

What you already do well

• Opening understanding. As White you steer the game into Open Sicilians with confidence and as Black you handle both the Najdorf / Scheveningen set-ups and the Grünfeld – clearly a well-prepared repertoire.
• Tactical alertness. Your wins frequently arise from energetic pawn breaks (e.g. f-pawn pushes in Sicilians) that open lines for decisive tactics. A nice example is your 18…g6/29.Nf4+ manoeuvre in the most-recent win, forcing weaknesses before converting.
• Piece activity & initiative. You rarely shy away from dynamic play, happily sacrificing pawns for long-term activity (e.g. …c5 in the Grünfeld game or 11…fxe6 in the Smith-Morra).

Key patterns in recent losses

1. Time-management issues. Five of your last seven losses came by flagging or abandonment. Even in technically equal positions you were under two minutes while the opponent had 10-15. Practise playing “increment games” (e.g. 10+5) to break the habit of drifting into time trouble.
2. End-game conversion. • In the Caro-Kann (Stephens–Liftovich) you reached a bishop-vs-knight ending with an outside passed pawn yet faltered, mainly due to inaccurate king placement.
   • In the KID game you allowed an outside passed c-pawn to queen after a single mis-judged exchange.
   Work on technical endings – rook + pawn vs rook and basic king-and-pawn theory – to hold or convert when the tactics calm down.
3. Premature liquidation. A few defeats stem from exchanging a dominant piece too early (e.g. 15.Bf5? in the Caro-Kann giving Black …Qc4 and the initiative). Before swapping, always ask “Who benefits from the release of tension?”

Action plan for the next four weeks

Focus	Concrete exercise	Goal-check
Time handling	Play 30 games at 5+5 only making a move when >10 s on the clock. Practise pre-moves in clearly forced recaptures.	No losses on time in a 10-game streak.
Technical endings	Daily 15-minute drill on rook endings with the “Silman end-game course” or any end-game app.	Solve 200 positions with ≥70 % accuracy.
Prophylaxis	After every opponent move ask “What is the threat?” aloud. Annotate three of your own games focusing on missed defensive resources.	Self-annotation shows ≤2 unspotted threats per game.

Opening micro-adjustments

• White vs Dragon. In the loss to zzz8888 you allowed …Qd5/Qh5 ideas. Try the modern 9.0-0-0 Re1 move-order: 7.Be2 Nc6 8.0-0 0-0 9.Re1, delaying queenside castling until Black commits.
• Grünfeld sidelines. After 6.Bd2 c5 7.e4 Nxc3 8.Bxc3 you played 11.Qa4?! letting …Bd7/…Nc6 serve tempo. Practical test the main line 11.Be2! followed by 12.0-0 for smoother development.

Recent performance snapshots

 

Illustrative game (latest win)

Useful glossary link

Beware of drifting into zugzwang situations in simplified endings – keep active squares for your king!

Motivation corner

• Current personal best: 2168 (2019-07-25).
• Aim: +50 rating by next month through disciplined clock use & end-game study.

Keep the energy on the board but tame the clock, and you’ll notice immediate rating gains. Good luck with the training, Mark – looking forward to your next milestone!