Abdul Rana NM

Hi Abdul!

First of all, congratulations on reaching a 2040 (2020-01-18) close to the 1900-mark. Your game history shows consistent growth and a willingness to fight in complex positions—great qualities for further improvement.

What you’re doing well

• Active piece play. In your most recent win (French Exchange, 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 exd5…), you constantly pressured Black with moves like 18.Ngf5 and 24.Bxh6, leading to the decisive 40.Qxg7#. Your instinct to keep pieces on aggressive squares is excellent.
• Open-file utilisation. You frequently double rooks (e.g. Re1/Re2 vs. …Rc8 in the same game) and seize semi-open files early, a key asset in rapid time controls.
• Tactical alertness. Shots such as 31.Ne6!! (forking queen & rook) show you can spot combinations when the position demands it. Keep sharpening this skill with regular puzzle rush or themes like zwischenzug.

Main improvement areas

1. Time management. Three of your last five losses were on the clock. You often slip under one minute while the position is still complicated (e.g. vs. AYurch and deesharm).
   Action plan:
   • Adopt a “speed budget”: aim to reach move 15 with ≥3:00 left and move 30 with ≥1:30.
   • Play a few 5|5 or 10|0 games each session to practise deep thinking without flag fear.
2. Handling closed centres as Black. In your English-Opening loss to antti97, …e4 locked the centre and your minor pieces struggled. White later invaded on the d-file with 22.Rxd5!.
   Action plan:
   • Study model games in the King’s Indian, Benoni and Modern structures to learn typical pawn breaks (…c6–c5, …f7–f5).
   • When the centre is closed, immediately plan for flank play (pawn storms, knight reroutes) rather than passive piece shuffling.
3. King safety in the French structures. Against deesharm you castled queenside and advanced wing pawns, but left dark-square holes that led to 28…Qh6+.
   Action plan:
   • Before pushing flank pawns, ask “What squares does this weaken?” and “Can my opponent sacrifice to open lines?”
   • Review annotated games in the French Winawer to see how GMs coordinate pieces before pawn storms.

Opening focus for the next month

Quick-glance stats

Hourly win rate:

Homework (pick any two per week)

• Replay your most recent loss and insert engine checkpoints every five moves, jotting down why the suggested move is better.
• Solve 30-minute themed puzzles on rook endgames. Your game vs. deesharm reached a rook ending where precise technique would have saved time and energy.
• Play one “no-opening-book” game: start from move 3 with random equal position and rely purely on principles.

Inspiration corner

Study the classic game Fischer vs. Fine, 1963 (French Exchange). It shows how Fischer converted small queenside pressure—exactly the structure you enjoy.

Keep the momentum going, Abdul! Small, targeted tweaks—especially in clock handling and closed-centre plans—will push you well past 2000.

Good luck and happy studying!