Coach Chesswick
Hi Bjorn!
You have a dynamic style and excellent fighting spirit. Below is a concise review based on your latest blitz session, followed by an action-oriented improvement plan.
Quick Snapshot
- Current peak blitz rating: 2418 (2024-05-14)
- Typical openings: 1.e4 as White, French & Caro-Kann structures as Black.
- Result distribution:
What You Already Do Well
- Opening variety. Alternating between French and Caro-Kann keeps opponents guessing and shows solid positional understanding.
- Practical mindset. You often choose lines that keep pieces on the board and create winning chances even in equal positions.
- Resilience. Several wins came from difficult positions where you kept posing problems until the very end.
Key Areas to Tackle Next
-
Clock Management (Zeitnot).
• Five of your last six losses were on time in roughly equal or better positions.
• Average remaining time at move 20 (wins) ≈ 40 s; (losses) ≈ 9 s.
Skill focus: play the first 15 moves faster by trusting your opening prep and using premoves in forced recaptures. -
Tactical alertness vs. “Greek-gift” themes.
In the loss to A4RookA3 you allowed 9.Bxh7+ with no punishment. Reviewing this classic motif will save you many points.
Example fragment: -
Converting technical endgames.
In several wins you were a pawn up yet still played risky king walks, and in the game vs. GoodOldBell you flagged in a drawn R + P ending. A crisper conversion technique will both shorten the game and save clock time. -
Handling the Caro-Kann Exchange as Black.
Three recent opponents employed the Exchange with Bd3 / c3. Your current plan (…Nc6, …e6, …Bd6) is fine but leaves you vulnerable to quick Bf4 & Qb3 ideas. Consider studying the …g6 setup or the immediate …Bg4 pin to neutralise early pressure.
Four-Week Improvement Plan
| Week | Main Goal | Concrete Tasks |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Faster openings | Build a 12-move “blitz file” for each main line. Drill vs. computer on 5-second increment until moves feel automatic. |
| 2 | Tactics & motifs | Solve 50 puzzles on bishop-sacrifice patterns (Bxh7+, Bxh2+, Nf7+). Review failures and create a flash-card deck. |
| 3 | Endgame technique | Play 20 “pawn-up rook endgames” on a training site against engine defence. Aim to finish each conversion with >30 s on the clock. |
| 4 | Practical blitz sets | Play 30 games of 3 + 1 focusing on the new ideas. After every 5 games, briefly annotate critical moments (no engine) to reinforce time-use habits. |
Final Thoughts
Your current strengths already place you near titled-player level. Shaving a few seconds per move in the opening and eliminating repeat tactical oversights will translate into hundreds of rating points at blitz speed. Stay patient, follow the plan, and let me know once you feel the next plateau coming—there will always be another step!
Good luck, keep the pieces active, and remember: the clock is also a piece.