Maria Gevorgyan WGM

Hi Maria!

Congratulations on maintaining a strong blitz rating around 2524 (2020-09-15). Your recent streak of tactical wins ‑ for example against wangzhai – shows how dangerous your attacking style can be. Below you will find a few focussed remarks that should help you convert even more games.

1. Opening observations

• Closed-Sicilian with 3.Bb5 is serving you well. You consistently obtain comfortable central control and the pawn breaks f4/f5 or e4-e5 come naturally to you.
• With Black you employ …g6 systems (Benoni & Sicilian) but some losses started with early …g6 followed by passive development. Consider adding one solid alternative (e.g. a Classical Scheveningen without kingside fianchetto) to stay flexible against surprise lines such as the Smith-Morra.
• The symmetrical English (loss vs Kartaca87) exposed difficulties in handling quiet positions where White slowly cranks up pressure. Investing a week on model games in the Hedgehog structure will pay off.

2. Critical moment – spotting the hidden resource

In the game below you were absolutely fine until you overlooked White’s passed d-pawn. Use it as a mini-quiz: after 21…Kf8 how would you meet 22.d6?

Take-away: before grabbing loose pawns, run through a quick escape square checklist for your king and back rank. A 10-second prophylaxis habit will save many rating points.

3. Middlegame trends

• Piece activity: your bishops often dominate long diagonals, yet knights stay on the rim longer than necessary (e.g. …Na5-c4 manoeuvre vs MartynasT). Try the “knight clock” drill – every five moves ask: “Is my knight optimal?”
• Counter-play vs pawns on both flanks: in winning games you use pawn storms well, but in losses opponents broke through the centre after you advanced too many wing pawns. Study the concept of base-pawn and break-pawn in the Benoni to balance attack and defence.
• Tactical awareness: you almost never miss direct mates, but zwischenzug shots crop up against you. Add 5 minutes of daily puzzle rush focusing on inter-mezzos.

4. Endgame & conversion

Your wins finish early, so the endgame sample size is small. Nonetheless, the rook technique versus MartynasT was clean. Continue practising the “Lucena in 20 seconds” drill so that confidence remains high when games simplify.

5. Time management

Several defeats ended with plenty of time for the opponent and <10 s for you. Two quick fixes:

1. Commit to spending no more than 20 s on any single blitz move before move 15 unless a direct tactic is visible.
2. Use the increment for maintenance moves (king safety, rook to open file) to rebuild the clock.

6. Recommended study plan (2-week micro-cycle)

7. Progress tracking

Use the built-in Chess.com insights to monitor when you actually play; your peak performance seems to come late evenings:

Keep the attacking spirit ‑ just add a dash of safety checks and you will see a steady climb beyond 2450. Good luck, and feel free to share future games for further feedback!