Anjelina Belakovskaia WGM

Feedback for Anjelina Belakovskaia

Hi Anjelina, I’ve reviewed some of your recent games and would like to share constructive feedback to help you continue improving your chess skills.

Strengths

• Opening Repertoire: You demonstrate solid knowledge of popular openings like the English Opening and Caro-Kann. Your moves show good understanding of opening principles, especially pawn structure and piece development.
• Endgame Technique: You manage to convert advantages efficiently, often pressuring opponents into resignation or winning on time. Your ability to capitalize on small edges is commendable.
• Positional Awareness: Moves like Bg2 and Be3 show good control of key diagonals and strategic squares, and you often contest central and long-range control well.

Areas for Improvement

• King Safety: In some games, such as the one with the English Opening symmetrical variation, moves like 10. Kf1 suggest you are manually moving the king early to safety, which might be reactive. Focus on castling promptly and ensuring your king safety from the opening phase to avoid spending tempi later.
• Time Management: While you manage to win on time in some games, there are instances where opponents outpace you. Practice maintaining steady time usage, especially in complex middlegame positions, so you have enough time to calculate critical moves.
• Tactical Awareness: While your games show strong strategic play, careful attention to tactical motifs such as forks, pins, and skewers could help prevent surprising losses. Try tactical puzzles regularly to sharpen this skill.
• Handling Pressure in Complex Positions: In some losses within more complicated middlegame structures (e.g., against opponents using Queen’s Gambit Declined variations), you faced challenges in defending. Focus on improving calculation depth and defensive technique to better hold complex positions.

Suggestions for Training

• Review key games where you lost to identify recurring issues, especially in the opening transitions and tactical oversights.
• Practice castling early and maintaining king safety to reduce the need for early king moves like Kf1.
• Incorporate daily tactical exercises available in your training regime to boost your ability to spot combinations quickly.
• Analyze opponent threats during the middlegame thoroughly before responding to improve your decision-making under pressure.
• Try annotating your own games after playing to reflect on decision points and alternative moves.

Keep up the great work, and continue to build upon your strategic skills and tactical awareness. Your foundation is strong and with consistent practice, you can push your level even higher!

Good luck and enjoy your journey!