Overview
Ćira, you have a real fighter's mentality. In your most recent win against Brinval, you played a patient Pirc Defense, kept your pieces flexible, and punished White's loose king in the endgame. That kind of composure is a strength. The task now is to turn the lessons from your close losses into steady progress.
What You Are Doing Well
- Feel for unbalanced positions. You are comfortable fighting in Pirc Defense and Closed Sicilian structures, where you can create counterplay instead of memorizing long forced lines.
- Tactical finishing. In the win against Brinval, you coordinated your queen, rook and knight to build a mating net. You recognized the right moment to strike.
- Persistence. Even in games where the position turns against you, you keep creating practical chances. This is valuable at your level.
Main Area to Improve: King Safety
Your clearest pattern in the recent losses is loosening your own king with pawn moves. In this Dutch Leningrad game, you opened the h-file and allowed Black's queen, bishop and knight to invade around your king. In this Ruy Lopez game, pushing the g-pawn gave Black a target on h3 and your queen was too far away to defend. Before playing h3, h4, g4 or f4, ask yourself: does this make my own king more vulnerable than my opponent's? That habit will improve your king safety more than any other single change.
Endgame Technique
Several of your losses reached endings that required precise technique. Against jeo55 in this Closed Sicilian game, you lost the exchange, but the resulting position was still defensible if you could improve piece coordination. Against IdleCardigan, the game came down to a pawn race where rook and pawn technique decided everything. In daily games, use the extra time to focus on the endgame: centralize your king, activate your rook, and cut off the opponent's king. These decisions are costing you many close results.
Development and Patience
Your second game against Brinval in this game shows what happens when aggressive pawn pushes happen before your pieces are fully coordinated. You want to complete development, connect your rooks, and make sure your king is safe before starting a pawn storm. In your winning Pirc game, you did this well: you improved every piece first, then opened the position when White was exposed. Bring that same patience to your White openings as well.
Suggested Next Step
Set a simple rule for your next ten games: do not push a pawn in front of your castled king unless it opens a useful file for your rook or forces the opponent to open the side where you are stronger. This will reduce the number of counterattacks from stronger players and put more of your games into the endgame, where your fighting spirit can shine.