alexutz2005

Quick summary

Nice run — your recent blitz shows strong tactical awareness and growing consistency. Your rating trend is healthy (recent upward slope and a +66 last month), and your strength-adjusted win rate (~50.6%) means you’re performing at or above expectation vs similarly strong opponents. Below I focus on concrete takeaways from the games you supplied and practical steps to improve further.

Highlights — what you’re doing well

• Sharp tactics and calculation: you closed out games quickly with tactical shots (for example the Qxf7+ sequence and the decisive Rxg4 in your win vs praneeth56).
• Opening variety and preparation: you play a broad repertoire (Caro‑Kann, Sicilian Alapin, French, Bird/London lines) and pick lines that suit blitz practical chances.
• Finishing ability: when you win the initiative you convert cleanly instead of drifting — your recent wins are decisive rather than messy.
• Mental resilience: overall win/loss record is strong and trending up — you recover quickly after losses.

Key weaknesses to target (based on the supplied games)

• Endgame defense / rook activity: in the long loss vs Adam Maltese you allowed repeated rook invasions (Rb2, Rb1, etc.) and the attack turned into a decisive advantage. Work on defending activity and avoiding passivity in rook endgames.
• Time management under pressure: clocks in the long game show heavy time pressure late — try to keep a small buffer (20–30s) for complex positions. Time trouble reduces accuracy and increases tactical oversight.
• Prophylaxis and pawn-structure awareness: avoid trades or moves that create easy outposts or passed pawns for the opponent (several sequences allowed your opponent pawn/rook activity).
• Occasional over-dependence on tactics in unclear positions — when the tactics dry up you can end up in passive positions. Balance tactics with simple positional moves (activate rooks, improve worst-placed piece, create pawn breaks).

Concrete drills and training plan (weekly)

• Tactics: 20–30 minutes/day focused on motifs you miss (rook lifts, back-rank, forks). Use mixed difficulty but track motifs you get wrong and repeat them next session.
• Endgame practice: 3× 20‑minute sessions/week — prioritize rook vs rook, rook+pawn vs rook, and basic king+pawn endgames. Drill winning/defending methods until automatic.
• Blitz time control practice: play 5–10 rapid games (10+5) each week where you force yourself to spend 50–60% of your time in the opening/middlegame and reserve 20–30s for complex endgames.
• Post‑game review: after each loss, do a 10–15 minute post-mortem. Identify the single turning move where the evaluation swung and write down an alternative plan. Do this for 3 most recent losses first.

Opening notes (targeted advice)

• Caro-Kann Defense — your overall performance here is mixed (~45%). Focus on plans in the Classical/Exchange lines: central breaks (c5 or e5 breaks), and where to put the light-square bishop. Work through 3 model games (one aggressive, one quiet, one endgame) to internalize typical piece manoeuvres.
• Sicilian Alapin and French — these are strengths for you. Keep the core plans and expand one or two new sidelines to surprise opponents in blitz.
• If you play the Ruy or open Spanish lines (seen in your win vs praneeth56), practice the common tactical motif of Qxf7/Qe7 checks and follow-up rook lifts — these patterns are paying off for you in blitz.

Practical blitz checklist (to use during games)

• In the opening: get development and king safe in your first 8–10 moves. If you’re low on time, swap to simple developing moves — avoid long forcing lines unless you know them well.
• Before each critical move ask: “Does this leave a back-rank, weak square, or hanging piece?” (takes 2–3 seconds, saves blunders).
• If you’re under 30s left, trade pieces to reduce tactics and aim for a draw or a clear plan — don’t create new complications.
• Reserve 10–20s for the first serious endgame decision (which pawn to push, which rook to exchange).

Immediate next steps (this week)

• Analyze your loss vs Adam Maltese: find the exact move where rook infiltration became unstoppable and write down the avoidance plan.
• Do 5 tactical sets focused on back-rank and rook forks; then 2 short rook endgames (10 minutes total) each day for 3 days.
• Play 6 rapid (10+5) games and review the two most instructive ones — mark one recurring mistake to fix next week.

Example game viewer

Review this recent win (good example of tactical transition into a winning end):

Resources & follow-up

• If you want, I can: a) annotate your loss vs Adam Maltese move‑by‑move, b) build a 4‑week training plan based on the drills above, or c) prepare 5 model Caro‑Kann lines with plans. Tell me which and I’ll prepare it.
• Good sign: momentum is on your side (6‑month rating gain and positive slopes). Keep the focused training and manage time — your rating should follow.