Ali Polatel NM

Hi Ali!

You’ve been playing a large volume of 3-minute games and floating around the mid-2400s. Below is a focused review of your recent play with actionable steps to reach the next level.

What’s working well

• Resourceful defence under time pressure. In several wins you survived heavy pressure with <20 s and still converted (e.g. vs DanielTorpedo and Orbog). This shows strong tactical awareness and nerves.
• End-game technique. Your conversion of rook + pawn endings (see last moves of the most-recent win) was clean and instructive.
• Flexible pawn-structures from the Saragossa. 1.c3 followed by early Qb3/ Qa3 gives you original positions where you clearly feel at home.

Main improvement themes

1. King safety in the French Defence.
   • In both recent losses with Black (vs iggy814 and mdrs) you delayed castling, played …Kf8/…Ke8, and were soon attacked.
   • Study the classical line 4…Nf6 5.e5 h6 6.Bh4 g5, or simply castle short after 7…O-O and play for …c5 breaks.
   • Drill 10-minute sparring games starting from move 6 of the French Classical with the sole goal of castling by move 10.
2. Over-expansion with pawns.
   • Your own h-/a-pawn pushes often leave dark-square holes (loss vs iggy814, 19…Ke8 & 28…h4).
   • Add “pause-and-ask” checkpoints: before any wing-pawn advance ask “Do I weaken squares near my king?”.
3. More mainstream weapons with White.
   • The Saragossa Opening scores well, but stronger opponents will prepare.
   • Invest 1-2 hours per week into an e4 or d4 main-line repertoire so you’re not one-dimensional.
4. Clock management.
   • Your wins are often decided by flagging rather than by position.
   • Try playing one daily session at 3 + 2 to force yourself to use time for calculation instead of “blitzing by habit”.

Position of the week – missed chance

Black to move (loss vs iggy814, move 19).

[[Pgn|1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 d5 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Bxf6 Bxf6 6.e5 Be7 7.Qg4 Kf8 8.f4 h5 9.Qf3 c5 10.dxc5 Qa5 11.O-O-O Nc6 12.Nge2 Qxc5 13.Kb1 b5 14.Nc1 b4 15.Nb3 Qb6 16.Ne2 a5 17.Nbd4 Bb7 18.Nxc6 Bxc6 19.f5]

You played 19…Ke8 (fear of 20.fxe6?). Instead 19…exf5! opens the e-file with your rook already on f8 and keeps the game equal. Train similar “exchange-sac” ideas vs cloud engines.

Training plan (next 4 weeks)

• 20 min/day of puzzle rush on “survival” to ingrain accuracy under 30 s.
• 2 annotated French games per week from Korchnoi & Uhlmann collections – focus on fast castle model games.
• Play 10 slow (10 + 5) games starting 1.e4 or 1.d4; annotate them yourself before using an engine.
• Every Sunday: review stats – & – and note when blunders spike.

Motivation corner

Your current peak: . With the tweaks above a jump of +100 Elo in the next quarter is realistic. Keep the energy, stay curious, and let’s convert those near-misses into wins!