Thomas Wessendorf FM

What you already do well

• Opening range: You handle both 1.e4 and 1.d4 positions and feel at home in the Sicilian and Nimzo-Indian as Black.
• Fighting spirit: You don’t hesitate to sacrifice material for activity (see the passed c-pawn race in your latest win).
• Endgame conversion: In the win vs. LittleL05 you coordinated king, knight and passed pawns flawlessly under 20 s on the clock.

Key areas to improve

1. Clock discipline. Two recent games were lost on time in playable positions. Promise yourself never to drop below 25 s before increment. Train with 1-second “move-touch” drills.
2. King safety during pawn storms. In the loss to MarkLe-Vine you pushed 5.h4 without securing your king. Castle first, then expand.
3. Pawn-grabbing reflex. The capture 4…Qxb2 against picarpentier ignored White’s coming e-pawn thrust. Use the “Checks-Captures-Threats” scan before grabbing.
4. Defensive technique in opposite-side castling. Against heroesdelsilencio you allowed g-pawn breaks without counterplay. Study typical Sicilian French-variation defensive plans (…f6, central strikes).

Illustrative snippets

Endgame technique (good):

Over-ambitious pawn grab (to fix):

Two-week action plan

• Play 20 rapid games keeping ≥30 s on the clock after move 25.
• Review “Sicilian pawn structures: the …c5–c4 plan” and practise defending the English Attack in the Taimanov.
• Daily 10-minute Puzzle Rush (Defence theme) to sharpen tactical alertness when under pressure.
• Annotate one of your time-forfeit games, pinpointing exactly why you spent too long.

Progress trackers

Your current peaks: Blitz 2365 (2023-12-28), Rapid 2298 (2025-01-10). Let’s add +50 points to each by next month.

Opponents worth a rematch

• Face markle-vine again; test a calmer set-up versus Alekhine’s Defence.
• Challenge picarpentier but decline the poisoned pawn with 4…e6 instead of 4…Qxb2.