Coach Chesswick
Quick summary
Nice session — you converted a long rook/pawn endgame to a win (opponent flagged) and kept fighting in messy middlegames. Your rating trend is climbing and your strength-adjusted win rate (~52.6%) shows you’re outperforming expectation. Below are focused, practical items to keep that momentum going.
Key position (your win) — replayable
Review the final conversion and the run-up: your rook activity + passed pawn decided the game. Re-play the game to follow the plan you executed here.
- Game vs Katharina Reinecke — use the viewer below to step through the sequence and final position.
What you’re doing well
- Endgame persistence: you keep the pieces on the board and patiently improve your pieces until the opponent cracks — excellent in the rook + pawn endings.
- Active rooks and passed-pawn creation: repeatedly used rooks behind passed pawns and created a decisive outside passer.
- Opening foundation: your Caro-Kann handling is solid — that line is one of your best performers. Keep building on it (Caro-Kann Defense).
- Competitive mindset: you don’t give up; you converted on time-press advantage and kept pressing in long technical positions.
Repeatable mistakes & patterns to fix
From your recent losses there are recurring themes — nothing fatal, but fixable with targeted practice.
- Vulnerability to tactical sacrificial shots early in the opening (knight/bishop sacrifices on f7/h6). Before accepting material, check for immediate countershots and king safety — don’t instinctively accept every pawn sac.
- Piece safety: you sometimes leave targets that opponents can exploit. Work on spotting Loose Piece situations — ask “who is under attack?” on every move.
- Opening gaps in some lines (Four Knights, Hungarian Opening, some Sicilian variations) — your win rates there are low, so either simplify the lines or study the main tactical motifs so you’re comfortable facing gambits or traps.
- Occasional over-optimistic captures — if a capture changes king shelter or creates enemy activity, pause and recalc defensive resources first.
Concrete training plan (next 7–14 days)
Small daily habits produce the biggest blitz improvements. Aim for quality, short sessions.
- Daily 20–30 min tactics (puzzles): focus on sacrifices, mating nets and decoys. Emphasize pattern recognition for the f7/h6/f2 squares.
- 3 × 30 min endgame sessions this week: rook + pawn vs rook technique, single pawn promotion races, and king + pawn opposition drills.
- Openings: spend 2 × 20 min on the weak lines — pick one (Four Knights or Hungarian Opening). Learn 2–3 critical lines and 1 typical tactical trap to neutralize.
- 1 slow game (15+10) this week: practice the same opening you use in blitz but give yourself time to calculate—this converts tactical intuition into deeper understanding.
- Post-game checklist for every game (60–90s): ask — Did I leave any loose pieces? Is my king safe? Any undealt tactical threats? This habit prevents repeating the same errors.
Practical tips for the board (blitz-specific)
- When opponent offers material early (Bxf7, Nxf7): before capturing, scan for immediate checks, pins, and discovered attacks. If you can’t calculate a clean answer in 10–15s, avoid the capture unless it’s clearly winning.
- Trade down to a winning endgame: if you have a small advantage, trade into a rook + passer endgame where you excel — simplify correctly and keep the opponent short of counterplay.
- Time management: keep a 10–15s buffer on the clock in rapid blitz swings. If position is complicated, simplify rather than go for long calculations you’ll lose on the clock.
- Use premoves selectively: only premove in very forced capture recaptures; avoid premoves when the opponent can trick you with quiet moves.
Short checklist after each loss
- Was there a tactic I missed? (If yes → add that motif to puzzle training.)
- Did I blunder material or leave a piece hanging? (If yes → light tactical warm-up pre-session.)
- Did the opening put me in an inferior structure? (If yes → add a short line or sidestep the line.)
Suggested micro-goals for the month
- Raise win-rate in weak openings by 10%: pick one poor-performing opening from your list and either drop or study it until mistakes stop repeating.
- Complete 40 focused tactics sets and 8 endgame drills (rook vs rook; opposition) this month.
- Play 8 games with increment (5|3 or 10|5) and 4 slow games (15+10) to transfer technical improvements from slow to fast time controls.
Resources & last notes
- Replay your win vs Katharina Reinecke and the loss vs Maximiliano Donoso Aguirre back-to-back. Spot where you made the same decision twice — that’s where to patch your thinking.
- Leverage your strengths: your endgame technique and patience are real advantages in blitz. Make small, safe plans and punish opponents who mis-coordinate.
- Keep the attitude: your rating trend is up and the slope numbers show consistent improvement — stay consistent with the drills above.
Want a short annotated line-by-line review of either the win or a loss (I can highlight 3–5 critical moves and show alternative plans)? Tell me which game and I’ll mark the moments to focus on.