Alessia Santeramo WFM

Hi Alessia 👋

It’s great to see you playing ambitious, initiative–driven chess. Your most recent victory against buldokklan1 shows how quickly you can convert an edge into a mating attack:

What’s working well

• Opening imagination. Gambits (King’s Gambit, Grob) and off-beat Rossolimo ideas keep opponents out of book early.
• Tactical vision. Tactics like 22.Qg5+!! and the final rook lift above illustrate sharp calculation and pattern awareness.
• Practical speed. Even in 3 | 0 you often reach the late middlegame with ~1:50 on the clock—enough to finish attacks confidently.

Growth opportunities

• Pawn-structure sensitivity.
  In the recent loss to shallexi (E24) the early …f5–f4 thrust left weak dark squares and let White create a dangerous passed e-pawn. Look for pawn breaks that open your pieces rather than merely chase something.
• King safety when you’re defending.
  When opponents counter-sacrifice you sometimes leave your king on the same file as an advancing pawn (…c6 in the Nimzo game), making tactics work for them instead of you.
• Risk management in the openings.
  The Grob and certain King’s-Gambit lines score well versus lower-rated players yet become resource-intensive against peers. Adding one solid main-line repertoire (e.g. Catalan/Italian with White, Classical Sicilian or Queen’s Gambit Declined with Black) will give you a dependable fallback on tilt days.
• Conversion technique.
  A few games were lost or timed-out in winning endings. Practising technical endgames (rook vs pawns, RB vs R) will bump your blitz sprint-finish confidence.

Action plan for the next 4 weeks

1. Opening tune-up
   • Add one “positional” system (1.d4  d5 2.c4 or the London) to contrast your gambits.
   • For Black vs 1.d4, test the Nimzo–Indian again but delay …f5/…f4 until you complete development.
2. Tactics & calculation
   • 15 min/day on themed puzzles where you are worse and must defend.
   • Every weekend, choose one blitz loss and write out “Why did this tactic work for my opponent?” in a sentence or two.
3. Endgame mileage
   • Play five 10 | 5 games/week and agree to trade queens when equal.
   • Drill the 25 most common rook endgames (Lichess trainer or any PGN set you like).
4. Clock discipline
   • Aim to have ≥ 50 % of your starting time after move 15.
   • If behind by ≥ 1 min, switch to “easy-move” mode: only calculate forcing lines unless the position is quiet.

Progress trackers

Use the charts below to spot streaks and schedule sessions when your win-rate peaks:

Motivation corner

Your current best blitz rating is 2408 (2018-08-04). Let’s target +50 elo by pairing your natural attacking flair with sturdier structures and cooler clock habits. Keep enjoying the journey and feel free to share any tricky positions—
we’ll crack them together!