AKonArtist

Quick overview

Nice run — your play shows confident opening preparation, a knack for creating and escorting outside passed pawns, and good ability to convert when the position simplifies. Below I highlight concrete things you’re doing well and the highest‑leverage ways to improve right now.

What you’re doing well

• Opening preparation: your repertoire gives you comfortable, familiar middlegames where you get the initiative early. Keep building on that.
• Creating outside passers: in your most recent win you pushed an a‑pawn all the way to promotion — you spot and execute outside‑passed pawn plans well.
• Active rooks and piece coordination: you often use rooks to restrict the opponent and escort passed pawns — that converts advantages reliably.
• Tactical awareness: you win many sharp middlegame skirmishes. That tactical instinct is a major asset in rapid games.
• Practical finishing: you’re good at simplifying into winning technical positions rather than looking for a flashy mate every time.

Game highlights — review the queening finish

Study the game where you queened on the a‑file (vs genomearchitect). It’s a textbook example of creating a passer and using your pieces to restrict counterplay.

• What went well: you advanced the outside pawn at the right time and kept the opponent’s pieces passive. When an outside passer exists, you prioritized pushing it rather than unnecessary piece trades.
• Lesson: once the passer is strong, coordinate rooks and king so you avoid tactical tricks that might block or capture the pawn. Your timing there was excellent.

Recurring weaknesses to fix

• Prophylaxis and counterplay — sometimes you push a winning plan but give the opponent a tactical window or an active piece counterplay. Ask “what does my opponent want next?” before committing pawns.
• Time management in complex positions — a number of wins came from time or resignation rather than long technical conversion. Practice allocating your clock: spend time on critical decisions, not on routine moves.
• Rook and pawn endgames — you convert many positions but a few games showed slippery endings. Drill king+rook vs king and rook+pawn endgames to make conversions automatic.
• Occasional overreliance on opponent errors — you win many practical games because opponents blunder. Strengthen calculation and candidate‑move routine so you keep converting even when they defend accurately.

Opening & middlegame action plan

• Solidify your main lines: keep working the lines you play often — e.g. Queen's Gambit Declined, Sicilian Defense and English Opening — but add one concrete anti‑idea for the opponent on move 5–8 (a short sidelines list you know by heart).
• Practice typical pawn breaks and piece maneuvers from your repertoire — set up 5 key positions per opening and practice the correct plans until they’re automatic.
• Improve prophylaxis: when you decide on a plan (pawn push, piece exchange), run a quick checklist — opponent threats, counterplay squares, open files your king may cross.

Endgame & tactical training plan (4 weeks)

• Daily (15–25 minutes): tactics training focused on forks, pins, and back‑rank motifs. Increase pattern recognition for typical traps.
• 3×/week (30 minutes): endgame drills — rook vs rook, outside passer technique, Lucena and Philidor basics. Make the winning methods automatic.
• Weekly: analyze one lost/close game — find the turning point and write a short note: “if I had done X, position would be Y.”
• Play one or two longer (15|10 or 30|0) games weekly to practice deep thinking and clock distribution.

Practical tips for rapid games

• When ahead: simplify sensibly — swap minor pieces (not pawns) to reduce tactical risk, then play for a technical win.
• When behind: look for active counterplay rather than passive defense — rooks on open files or a knight outpost make practical chances.
• Clock habit: on your first 10 moves spend an accumulated 3–4 minutes — this avoids getting into severe time trouble later.
• Pre‑move caution: use pre‑moves only when clearly safe (captures that don’t walk into a tactic).

Concrete next‑session checklist

• Run the queening game in your analysis board and mark the one critical decision where the outside pawn march became unstoppable.
• Solve 20 tactical puzzles (mix easy and medium) and 5 rook endgame positions.
• Play one 15|10 game and review only the critical three mistakes afterwards.
• Pick one opening line you play (example: your favorite Sicilian line) and prepare two replies to common sidelines.

Resources & followups

• Study model games in the Queen's Gambit Declined and motif collections for outside passers.
• Endgame references: work through Lucena/Philidor summaries and a few practical rook‑end drills each week.
• If you’d like, send two game PGNs (one win, one loss) and I’ll mark 3 critical moments to focus on next week.

Closing encouragement

You’ve got a strong foundation: keep the opening work, tighten prophylaxis, and spend a modest block on rook endgames. Small, consistent training steps will turn the positions you now win by force into positions you win by technique as well. Nice work — keep going!