Agustin Nieto FM

Agustín, here’s a roadmap to climb beyond your current 2463 (2024-04-16) level

What you are already doing well

• Tactical Punch: Your Traxler game versus Evgeniy Khain shows confident calculation and a precise sense for initiative.
  
  
• Opening Ambition: You consistently pick combative systems (Morra, Benko, Modern, Traxler) that suit your dynamic style.
• Piece Activity Focus: Games like the Caro-Kann win vs hallvard haug flatebø demonstrate that you value rapid development and open lines—exactly what a strong blitz repertoire needs.
• Ability to Convert Winning Attacks: In multiple wins you kept the foot on the gas until mate or resignation, rarely letting the opponent escape once the initiative was yours.

Key areas to sharpen

1. Clock Discipline
   Two recent defeats (vs FoamySea and James Neal) were purely time related. You often invest a large chunk of your clock early, then scramble in technical phases. • Set a “soft limit” of no move over 15 s during the opening/early middlegame
   • Train 1 | 0 bullet sessions to force instant instinct moves
   • Finish every practice game with a 15-second “increment drill”: switch to an increment time control and practise moving while your clock is below 5 s.
2. End-game Clean-up
   In the Trompowsky loss to Vasiliy Korchmar you reached an equal R+N vs R end-game but lacked a plan and collapsed. • Review basic lucena, philidor and N+Pawn techniques each week.
   • Solve 3 composed practical rook-endgame studies daily. • When ahead, ask yourself “What is my cleanest path to exchange into a won end-game?” and play for that.
3. Structured Defence
   Your Benko Gambit loss vs okolot shows a tendency to meet pressure with pawn thrusts (…b5, …e6) before pieces are coordinated. • Insert the question “What does the position need—defence or counter-attack?” before every sharp pawn push.
   • Practise 10 defensive puzzles/session; focus on pawn-down positions so you get comfortable holding.
4. Opening Depth on Quiet Lines
   Opponents who sidestep theory (e.g. 1.e3, 1.d3 Sicilian) earned comfortable middlegames against you. • Build a solid fallback answer for quiet systems (recommend: …d5 & …c5 vs Réti/English, and …e5 against 1.g3/1.Nf3). • Spend one study session per week updating your notes; in blitz you only need broad plans, not memorisation.

Practice checklist

• After every session, run a three-question review: (1) Why did I win/lose on the clock? (2) What was my biggest tactical oversight? (3) Did I choose the right end-game?
• Keep a mini-database of recurring mistakes tagged “time scramble”, “mis-coordination”, “premature pawn push”. Revisit them weekly.
• Balance your tactical training with 30 % defensive studies and 20 % end-game drills.

Progress tracking

Maintain the fighting spirit that already sets you apart, while tightening the nuts and bolts described above. Small improvements to clock handling, end-game technique and defensive patience should carry you well past the 2400 blitz barrier.

Good luck, and see you at the board!