Antoni Szustakowski FM

Hi Antoni!

You are playing sharp, ambitious Bullet chess and holding a very healthy winning percentage around your current 2739 (2022-12-03). Below is a concise review of recent patterns, followed by a concrete improvement plan.

What you are already doing well

• Opening variety  – Kan Sicilians, Owen’s Defense (1…b6) and the Réti/King’s Indian Attack give you flexible positions that suit Bullet. Your opponents are frequently pulled out of their book by move 6-8 (e.g. 7…h5!? in the Kan).
• Practical calculation under 10 s – The win Mroziiu – antoszu (Kan, 0-1) shows you spotting the 19…Rxa7 clearance instantly and converting without allowing counter-checks.
• End-game conversion – In the Réti win you calmly nursed a passed b-pawn with R+B vs Q and forced resignation with seconds on the clock.

Recurring problems to fix

1. Early pawn storms leave dark-square holes
   • In several Kan games you play …h5/…h4 Ng4 before castling. • In the Bullet time control this feels tempting, but your loss in the French Exchange (14……hxg6) and Caro-Kann (…g5) show how weakened kings rarely survive long tactics.
   Quick rule: If the queens are on the board and you have not committed your king, think “prophylaxis first, pawn storm later.”
2. Queen tempo moves in the French / KIA
   In the KIA loss you spent three tempi with Qa5-Qd8-Rc8 while White seized the centre with d5–e5–d4. Aim for one purposeful queen move or none in the first 12 plies unless it creates a concrete threat.
3. Tactics on the g7/g2 squares
   Four of the recent results (both wins and losses) were decided by a shot on g7/g2. Add 10-minute daily sessions of thematic puzzles (“Bishop+Knight vs fianchetto king”) to cement these patterns. Puzzle Rush score tracking can be charted here:
   .
4. Premature …c5 breaks in French structures
   In the French Exchange loss, 12……dxc3 opened the d-file while your king remained in the centre. Consider meeting c4 with …Nc6-…Be6 ideas instead and delaying …c5 until the king is safe.

Opening tune-ups for Bullet

A 7-day micro-training plan

• Day 1-2: 20 puzzles/day focusing on double-bishop batteries and knight forks (search tag “Same-colour bishop mate”).
• Day 3: Review 5 GM Kan games that reach move 20 with both kings castled. Note where they push the h-pawn.
• Day 4-5: Play 10 unrated 3|0 games forcing yourself to castle by move 8; annotate blunders immediately.
• Day 6: End-game drill: R+B vs Q, start from the diagram after 40…Rc2+ in your Réti win. Convert vs Stockfish three times.
• Day 7: 30-minute theme sparring session starting from the position after 14……hxg6 in your French loss to practice defence.

Key tactical motif to rehearse

Study why 25.Bxf7# ended your Caro-Kann game – it involved a hidden zwischenzug. Load it quickly:

Final checklist before each Bullet game

• Is my king safe enough to launch a pawn storm?
• What does my opponent attack if I premove?
• Can I simplify into a winning ending instead of mating? (Scoreboard matters more than style at 1-minute.)

Keep the energy, tighten the king safety, and you’ll push that peak even higher. Good luck!