Akira Watanabe FM

Hi Akira, here’s a focused review of your recent play

Your current profile at a glance

• Peak Blitz rating: 2303 (2025-06-17)
• Activity trends:
   

Key strengths

1. Tactical Awareness & Calculation – The miniature against satoru_watanabe (24…Nxf3+) shows you spot forcing lines quickly.
   
   
   
2. Piece Activity in the Sicilian – Your Taimanov and Canal-Sokolsky setups consistently generate queenside pressure and give you the initiative.
3. Practical Time Management – You usually preserve a 30-60 s cushion for critical endings, enough to convert technically winning positions (e.g. Rd2–Rc2 swindle on move 36 vs IMKosei).

Growth areas & targeted drills

1. Over-extension versus lower-rated opponents
   In the Petroff loss you pushed …d5 & …e4 without finishing development and let White’s minor pieces flood the board.
   • Drill: Play training games where you are forbidden to push pawns beyond the 5th rank until all pieces are developed.
   • Study model Petroff games by Giri/Caruana to internalise the quick …d5 break timing.
2. Endgame conversion technique
   Twice you were a pawn up but allowed counter-play (Kensei814 game 41…Rg8, 42…Rg5). Your king & rook coordination can improve.
   • Daily exercise: Solve 3 rook-and-pawn endgames from “100 Endgames You Must Know.”
   • Practice the Lucena and Philidor setups until you can set them up in under 10 seconds – see Lucena position.
3. Balancing risk in the Sicilian
   You often choose the sharp …c4 advance (e.g. vs aaaao) before king safety is secured, leaving dark-square holes.
   • Replace 9…c4 with the slower 9…Nf5 or 9…a6 in your French-Sicilian line; run the resulting positions through an engine for 10 minutes to feel the difference in evaluation swing.
4. Strategic patience in equal positions
   The Slav Exchange loss (D14 vs LlambiPasku) shows a tendency to force matters with …e5/…f6 instead of manoeuvring.
   • Annotate 5 classic Karpov “small advantage” games; note how he shuffles pieces until the opponent creates a weakness.

Opening book updates

• Add the Keres Variation (…a6 & …b5) to your Ruy Lopez Exchange repertoire to avoid the slow structural squeeze you faced on 8.d3.
• Prepare a secondary answer to 1.d4 besides the Slav/QGA – a solid Nimzo-Indian would diversify your middlegame structures.

Next-week training plan (≈4 hrs)

1. 1 hr – Endgame drill set (rook vs pawn endings).
2. 1 hr – Analyse two recent losses without an engine first, then verify ideas at low depth.
3. 30 min – Flash-card your Petroff & Sicilian move-order traps.
4. 30 min – Play a 15 | 10 training game focusing on not pawn-storming until pieces are developed.
5. 1 hr – Tactics spree (rated puzzles until you hit 90 % accuracy).

Motivational snapshot

Keep sharpening those tactics, add a dose of strategic patience, and you’ll be pushing past your current peak soon. Looking forward to your next set of games!