Vantika Agrawal WGM

Hi Vantika, here is your personalised feedback!

What you are already doing well

• Early piece activity: You have a healthy instinct to fight for the initiative right from move one. In your recent miniature against ricky29 you used 22.Nc6⁺ and 24.Qb7# to finish the game crisply: 
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• Creative pawn levers: The repeated use of f-pawns and g-pawns to open files shows you are looking beyond “classical” Chess960 principles and are willing to prise open defences.
• Consistency of opening choice: The b3/c4 set-up appears in both your wins and losses; specialising can pay dividends as you accumulate pattern-recognition.

Areas to strengthen next

• King safety in sharp positions
  In your loss to hawkeye-86 you entered complications with …Ke7/…Kf8 before your pieces were coordinated, allowing 10.Nf5⁺! and a forced mating net. If you are going to play …b5 in the Polish-Sicilian hybrid, castle first or keep the centre closed.
• Reaction to direct threats
  Several defeats feature missed intermediate moves (zwischenzug). Try adding a “double-check” step to your calculation routine: after you think you have answered a threat, ask “What will my opponent do next?” before you move.
• End-game technique & clock management
  Two recent games were lost on time from drawable or even winning endings. Practise playing rook + pawns vs rook endings with a 10-second increment to automate key setups such as the Philidor and the Lucena positions. The extra familiarity will also speed up your move-selection.

Targeted training plan (4-week micro-cycle)

1. Week 1 – Tactical vigilance
   • 30 minutes/day on mate-in-2 & 3 puzzles.
   • Annotate three decisive games focusing only on missed tactics.
2. Week 2 – King-safety drills
   • Play 20 bullet Chess960 games starting each from a random FEN and castle in the first 8 moves.
   • Review with the question “Could I be mated in the next 3 moves?”
3. Week 3 – End-game speed
   • Solve 40 basic rook-ending studies.
   • Spar with a friend starting from KRP vs KR on both sides with 30 s each.
4. Week 4 – Opening refinement
   • Build a mini-file of 10 model games with the b3/c4 setup (both colours).
   • Play slow games (15 | 10) aiming to remember one new idea per game.

Progress trackers

Use the charts below to keep motivation high and verify that the plan is working:

Goal-setting

Your current peak rating stands at 2676 (2022-11-10). Let’s set a realistic short-term goal of +75 elo in the next six weeks by focusing on the three key themes above.

Final encouragement

You already display a vibrant, aggressive style. By tightening your king safety and sharpening your defensive calculation, you will convert more of those promising positions into wins. Keep a growth mindset and celebrate each small improvement!