Aaron Zambrano FM

Quick summary

Nice run — your rating and win-rate trending sharply up. Your recent win vs neuergiveup shows strong attacking instincts and clean converting technique. The loss vs Prince Monther highlights a recurring bullet issue: time trouble and endgame technique under the clock. Below are concrete, bite-sized ways to keep the momentum and avoid recurring mistakes.

Replay your last win

Study the game you finished with a brilliant promotion and mating net — revisit the flow and key turning points.

• Game viewer:
• Opening: Sicilian Defense — you got a sharp kingside attack after central tension and played energetically.

What you did well (strengths to keep)

• King-side attacking instincts — you pushed pawns and coordinated major/minor pieces to open lines quickly.
• Piece activity and tactical alertness — creating a passed pawn and converting it into a promotion shows good pattern recognition.
• Practical play under pressure — you found forcing moves that kept initiative and prevented counterplay.
• Opening variety — your Openings Performance shows strong results in lines like the French Defense and some 100% win-rates in Closed Sicilian/variations; this diversity is good for practical play.

Where you can improve (patterned from recent loss)

Focus on these recurring issues — they’re the fastest wins to fix and will pay off in bullet.

• Time management: the loss vs Prince Monther ended in heavy time pressure. In bullet, keep an eye on the clock and avoid long think during equal positions — decide on a fast, safe plan and move.
• Endgame technique under the clock: your rook-and-pawn endgames are becoming common — practice common rook endgames, king+rook vs rook, and basic pawn races so you don’t lose on conversion or allow counterplay.
• Avoid repetitive knight shuffles: in slower middlegames you shuffled the same knight several times (see games with repeated Ne3–Nf1). Prefer small waiting moves or improve a different piece instead of repeating moves that cost time.
• Trading into drawn (or losing) endgames: be alert to simplifications that favor the opponent’s activity (rook on the open file, passed pawns). If you’re short on time, trade only when clearly beneficial.

Concrete next steps (short checklist)

• Do 10–15 minutes/day of tactics with a focus on mating nets and promotion motifs (you convert well — make it automatic).
• Spend 2× week doing 10 rook endgame positions (simple positions: king+rook vs king, rook+pawn races, Lucena and Philidor basics).
• Play 5–10 rapid games (5|0 or 3|2) with the explicit goal: practice decision-making without flagging. Time trouble drills beat learning under panic.
• Review one lost bullet game per day: find the single turning move and write one sentence about a better plan — short, focused post-mortems work best for rapid improvement.

Bullet-specific tips

• Pre-move discipline: only pre-move safe captures or recaptures when there are no checks. Random pre-moves cause “Mouse Slip” style disasters.
• Keep king safety simple — avoid unnecessary pawn storms if it weakens your king and costs time to calculate.
• When ahead materially: trade pieces quickly and simplify toward a technical win, but keep a little clock buffer (don’t go to 0.5 seconds).
• If you’re behind on the clock but positionally equal: complicate — create threats and practical chances rather than trying to squeeze technical improvements move-by-move.

Short drills you can do tonight

• 5-minute warmup: 20 easy tactical puzzles (3-move mates and forks).
• 10 minutes: 6 basic rook endgames (set up positions and play both sides for 3 minutes each).
• Play 4 bullet games with the goal: never drop below 10 seconds on the clock. Stop the session if you flag twice in a row — reset and review.

Follow-up

If you want, I can:

• Annotate one of your recent losses move-by-move and suggest improvements.
• Build a 2-week daily training plan tailored to your openings (I see strong results with French Defense and the Sicilian Defense).
• Set up a short endgame workbook (10 positions) you can practice on mobile.