Anna-Maria Botsari WGM

Hi Anna-Maria,

Congratulations on the impressive streak of wins you posted on 7 June – your technique against the King’s Indian and Semi-Slav structures was crisp and energetic. Below is a blend of praise and practical, actionable advice to help you push beyond your current level and beat more players in your own 2500-range.

1. Snapshot

• Best recent day: 7 June – 5/5 wins, +35 rating.
• Typical opening as White: 1 d4, headed for Queen’s Gambit / Catalan or a flexible Nf3–g3 set-up.
• Typical opening as Black: Semi-Slav versus 1 d4, Taimanov / Bastrikov versus 1 e4.

2. What you already do well

1. Early space grabs with pawns “h” and “a”. Against weaker opposition this scores heavily; you generated mating nets in both games versus michaelangeloniarchos.
2. Tactical alertness. In your latest win you exploited 28 Qc6! followed by 29 Qxd5, punishing an over-extended pawn mass – classic loose pieces drop off.
3. Switching from queenside build-up to kingside attack. Your 25 a5–a4-a5 idea against the King’s Indian shows good board-wide vision.

3. Quick wins – easiest points to pick up in the next two weeks

• Time management. In several victories you still had <15 s when the opponent resigned. Try the “30-20-10” rule: aim to have ≥30 s left by move 20 and ≥10 s by move 30. Train this with clock-handicap drills (start every 3 + 2 game at 2 : 30).
• Stop …Kf8 in the Taimanov. The loss to SKandachampion began with 10 Bb5 +! Kf8?! Instead castle or play 10 …Bd7. Review the critical line with an engine once, then drill it blindfold to fix the pattern.
• Keep the queens on vs lower-rated players. In the loss to leo3691 you traded into a rook ending that was objectively equal but practically difficult. Against sub-2600s, maintain complications – you out-calculate them.

4. Deep work – three-month projects

1. Endgame conversion. Both the leo3691 and Hakanant games slipped from += to lost. Two hours per week on technical rook endings will pay off fast. Recommended sequence:
     • 10 classic studies (Smyslov & Averbakh).
     • 10 practical endings from your own database where you were ±1 pawn and failed to score.
     • Finish with the “side-rook check” technique vs. passed g-/h-pawns.
2. Prophylaxis training. Your attacking style is excellent, but equal-strength opponents punish over-extension (see the UmanWdd checkmate). Every day pick one critical position and spend 3 min asking: “What does my opponent want?” – pure prophylaxis.
3. Expand the black repertoire. The Semi-Slav is solid, yet predictable. Add one Nimzo-Indian line to make preparation harder for peers. Start with the Rubinstein (4 e3 O-O). It overlaps strategically with your Semi-Slav so the learning curve is mild.

5. Illustration: missed resource in the leo3691 game

Instead of drifting into a lost rook ending you could have kept pressure with 45 …Nd3+ immediately. Below is a mini-exercise – replay it once, then set it up on a board and solve blindfold.

6. Weekly training template (sample)

7. Final thought

You are already playing master-level chess, but the next 50-100 Elo will likely come from conversion and control rather than new attacking ideas. Nail the rook endings, mix in prophylactic thinking, and you will be the one dictating when the queens come off – and when they don’t.

Good luck and enjoy the grind!