Coach Chesswick
Coach’s Review for Adrian Moldovan
Your Current Profile
- Peak blitz rating: 2643 (2025-02-23)
- Most played openings
- White: English/Catalan set-ups (1 Nf3, 2 g3, 3 c4 / d4)
- Black vs 1.e4: Sicilian Kan
- Black vs 1.d4: Old Benoni / Benko hybrids
What You Already Do Well
- Dynamic piece play – In several wins you willingly sacrifice pawns or exchange structure for activity. Example: On move 34 of your Benoni game you spotted the clearance idea 34…Ne5 Nxc4# to finish the attack ().
- Opening awareness – You reach sound middlegames from both sides of the Sicilian Kan and Catalan without falling for early traps.
- Resourceful under time pressure – Even in bullet you often find perpetual-check tricks or drawing nets when worse.
Key Areas to Improve
- Clock management
Five of your last ten losses came from flagging in roughly equal or winning positions.
• Adopt a “move & think” rhythm: make a safe move every 3-4 seconds, then use increment time to refine.
• Practise 3 | 2 games for a week to internalise playing with an increment. - Conversion technique in favourable endgames
Your 40-move English game ended with 0-1 on time while you were up material. Work on:- Basic rook-ending principles (cutting the king, building bridges)
- Winning “extra passer” positions with the 20-40-20 method: 20 seconds plan, 40 seconds execution, 20 seconds safety check.
- Handling closed centres with flank pawn breaks
In the Owen’s Defence loss you locked the structure with …c4 and later lacked counter-play. Review themes like …c5/…f6 breaks in the Benoni and typical …b5 strikes in the Kan. - Tactical housekeeping
Several defeats stem from one-move oversights (e.g. 33…c4? in the Benko game left the d6-pawn en prise). Use a three-part blunder check before committing: Tactics → Checks, Captures, Threats.
Four-Week Improvement Plan
| Week | Focus | Daily Task (≈30 min) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clock discipline | Play 15 bullet games with a strict “move under 4 s” rule; annotate two. |
| 2 | Simple rook endings | Solve 20 positions from “100 Endgames You Must Know”; play 3 rapid games. |
| 3 | Benoni & Kan pawn breaks | Review GM model games; create an opening flash-card deck. |
| 4 | Tactics refresh | 40 puzzles (rating 2300-2600) on Chess.com; replicate missed motifs in a notebook. |
Progress Tracking
Quick Reference Checklist
- Opening: Ask “Where is my pawn break?” by move 12.
- Middlegame: Run a 10-second blunder check each move.
- Endgame: If up material, simplify → activate king → push passer.
- Time: Never drop below 25 % of starting time without a concrete plan.
Implement these tweaks and your natural tactical flair will shine even brighter. Looking forward to seeing you break the next rating barrier!