Axel Muller NM

Hi Axel Müller!

Great job keeping an active tournament schedule and mixing up both White and Black openings. Below is a performance debrief based on your latest batch of games.

1. Snapshot

• Current peak: 1868 (2020-11-22) (nice!)
• Activity graphs:
   
• Main openings played
  – As White: Nimzowitsch-Larsen (1 b3), occasional King’s Fianchetto (1 g3)
  – As Black: Modern/Pirc (…g6/…d6), Scandinavian, and the St George (…a6/…g6)

2. What you are doing well

1. End-game conversion. Your win vs viktorvera (Scandinavian) showed patient technique: you limited counter-play, centralized the king, and converted the rook+knight ending without fuss.
2. Practical decision-making under time pressure. Even with 1 + 0 or 2 + 1 clocks you often keep 20–30 s in reserve, which helps you avoid the really big mouse-slips.
3. Piece activity. You rarely leave bishops stuck behind their own pawns; the Bb2/Bg2 fianchetto pieces are doing useful work in most games.

3. Key improvement themes

1. King safety first.
   Several recent losses (e.g. vs JoaoAlvaroFerreira and lolapolen) stemmed from delaying castling while advancing flank pawns (…b5, h5/h4) too early.
   • Aim to castle by move 10 in 90 % of your games unless you have a very concrete reason not to.
   • If you push the h-pawn, ask “What stops my opponent from opening the h-file first?”
2. Central vs flank pawn balance.
   The St George set-up (…a6 …b5 …g6) can work, but in your loss you allowed d4-d5 to slam the center shut while your queenside pawns became targets.
   • Before playing two flank pawn moves, make one central move (…e6/…d6/…c6) to keep options flexible.
3. Tactical alertness. In the Larsen game vs togir you walked into 19…Bg3# after overlooking the …d3 thrust. Tactics appear between moves 12-20 in your games more than anywhere else. Practice pattern recognition 15 min/day: Puzzle Rush or Custom Puzzles set to 1600-1900 rating.
4. Opening focus. Right now you juggle 3-4 Black systems. Consider trimming to two:
   • 1.e4 → Modern/Pirc (solid, flexible)
   • 1.d4 / Nf3 → Queen’s Gambit Declined or a simple Slav
   This lets you invest study time more deeply instead of memorising many sidelines.

4. Illustrative moment

One critical sequence from the St George loss; Black is already walking a tightrope but there was still counter-play:

The key mis-step was 21…b4?! which loosened the c-file and opened lines against your king. Instead 21…Be5! activates a piece while keeping b-pawn tension.

5. Training plan (4-week micro-cycle)

6. Quick tips checklist

• Count attackers & defenders before every capture opportunity.
• When in doubt, centralise a piece not a pawn.
• If you spend >25 % of the clock on one move, simplify the position or trade.

Keep the fighting spirit, keep analysing, and your next rating jump will follow. Feel free to share any annotated games for more detailed feedback.

Good luck and have fun at the board!