Brandon Ashe NM

Hi Brandon! Here’s a personalised performance review based on your recent games.

1. Your current profile at a glance

• Peak Blitz rating: 2601 (2016-11-11)  • Peak Rapid rating: 2000 (2013-07-30)
• Activity snapshots:

2. What you’re already doing well

• Dynamic attacking play. You steer the game into sharp positions (e.g. 10.Bxh6! in the French Tarrasch) and usually calculate tactics accurately.
• Opening awareness. Your choice of main-line French and Sicilian systems shows good preparation; you rarely leave the book worse.
• Piece activity over material. When a sacrifice opens lines toward the enemy king, you are willing to pull the trigger—an essential trait at higher levels.

3. Main growth areas

• Time management. Four of the last six losses came from flagging in winning or equal positions. You often spend half your clock in the first 15 moves.
• Defensive technique. When the attack fizzles, counter-punches like ...Qc5+ (loss vs. martimhernandez2) catch you off guard. Train spotting “opponent threats” each move.
• Endgame conversion. With material edge you sometimes miss the simplest win and let counter-play creep in (see 40…Bb5? allowing white’s passed c-pawn).
• Prophylaxis. Good attackers must also prevent counter-play. Moves like h3/a3, or rerouting a defender, will save you from sudden tactics. Review the concept of zugzwang and prophylactic thinking in grand-master games.

4. Concrete action plan

1. Adopt a “clock quota”. Aim to have >50 % of your starting time after move 15. Verbal cue: “instant candidate” → make at least one candidate move immediately before calculating.
2. Tactics, but with a twist. Continue daily puzzle rush, yet set the board for the opponent after you solve; ask “what would I do as Black/White now?”. This builds defensive reflexes.
3. Endgame mini-workouts. Spend 10 min/day on rook-and-pawn and opposite-coloured bishop studies. Use Lichess table-base or Chess.com drills; keep a notebook of critical ideas (e.g., the “Lucena bridge”).
4. Annotate one game per week. Pick any of your wins or losses, switch the engine off for the first pass, write “Why did I think this was best?” after each critical move. Then compare with engine suggestions.
5. Opening hygiene. Trim your repertoire to two main defences as Black and two set-ups as White. Rehearse the first 10 moves on a flash-card app, but add typical middle-game plans, not just move orders.

5. Deep-dive examples

6. Next-week focus checklist

• [ ] Finish 15 defensive puzzles involving back-rank mates.
• [ ] Play two 15 | 10 games only slowly, write a one-sentence justification after each move.
• [ ] Review the French Winawer endgame structure “knight vs. bad bishop” from a master game.
• [ ] Set a timer: no single move may take more than 20 seconds before move 10.

Keep up the attacking spirit, Brandon, and balance it with a bit of defensive polish—your rating curve should climb steadily. Good luck and enjoy the journey!