Coach Chesswick
Hi Alfia Nasybullina!
Your recent blitz run shows that you are very close to a new personal best (current high: 2452 (2025-01-31)). The trends on
and suggest that when you enter a game rested and within your favourite playing hours you score markedly better. Let’s build on those strengths and patch a few recurring leaks.What’s already working
- Opening variety & surprise value. Switching between the Bishop’s Opening (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4) and solid Caro-Kann lines keeps opponents off-balance and often wins you the first tempo.
- Dynamic piece play. In your victory over horvi1 you steered every piece toward the enemy king (notice 17.Bh6, 21.f5, 37.Rg7+). The initiative rarely slips once you seize it.
- Practical resilience. Even with material deficits you locate counter-shots (e.g. 37.Rg7+!! and 48.d6!! in the same game) and convert them into real chances.
Key growth areas
- King safety after …f-pawn advances.
Two recent defeats (vs. robertmissher, sava_dust12) occurred right after an ambitious …f5 push that left dark-square holes. Before touching the f-pawn run a three-point blunder-check: “Who benefits? Which squares weaken? What forcing move does my opponent gain?” — a five-second habit that prevents disasters. - Accelerated Panov headaches.
The sequence 1.e4 c6 2.c4 d5 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.exd5 Nf6 5.Qa4+ keeps reappearing. Study the modern antidote 5…Bd7 6.Qb3 b6/…Qc7 followed by fast development — three model games should be enough to feel at home. - Clock management.
Loss on time to progamerrichyt came from spending 50 % of the clock in the first 20 moves. Aim to reach move 20 with ≥1:45 and move 30 with ≥1:00. Use opponent’s turn for calculation and play book positions instantly. - End-game technique.
In the rook ending versus gm2025abc you advanced pawns before centralising your king, letting counter-play creep in. Weekly drills of the Lucena and Philidor positions (10 minutes each) will pay immediate dividends.
Two-week action plan
- Analyse every game you flag as “critical” within 12 hours; annotate one improvement for each move you label “?!” or “??”.
- Memorise the first 12 moves of your chosen Caro-Kann reply to 5.Qa4+ and test it in three unrated sparring games.
- Play five 10 + 5 training games focused only on time-handling; results secondary.
- Solve 30 rook-endgame puzzles, half from winning side, half from drawing side.
Reference games
Show-case win vs horvi1
Instructive loss vs robertmissher
Keep up the momentum!
You are only a few refined habits away from a rating jump. Apply the tweaks above, stay confident, and enjoy the journey.