Coach Chesswick
Quick summary for Азат Габдрахманов
Nice spike recently — you’re converting complicated positions into wins and your rating trend is clearly positive. In blitz your biggest strengths are opening familiarity, creating and advancing passed pawns, and practical queenside play. Main leaks: time management (frequent low clock situations), occasional pawn-structure overextends, and a handful of tactical oversights when the position gets sharp.
Concrete example — recent win (study this)
Good practical technique in the game against chesstalent2006: you built queenside pressure, generated a passed pawn and used active rooks/queen to push for promotion while the opponent ran out of time.
- Replay the game to see how the b-file passed pawn became the decisive asset.
- Key pattern to notice: converting an active piece advantage into a passed pawn and then keeping the king safe while queening.
What you’re doing well
- Opening mastery — you repeatedly reach comfortable Sicilian/Kan and Caro-Kann structures and outplay opponents from early middlegames. See lines like Sicilian Defense: Kan Variation and Caro-Kann Defense.
- Creating practical winning chances — your ability to convert piece activity into a passed pawn or mating threats is strong.
- Handling strong opponents — recent wins vs 2700+ opposition show good nerves and practical decision-making in complicated positions.
- Good pattern recognition in endgames and queen activity — you force simplifications that favor your passed pawns or king safety.
Recurring weaknesses to fix
- Time management / Blitz clocking: several games ended with very little time for complex phases. Practice keeping ~20–30 seconds at move 20 in 3–5 minute games. Consider games with increment (3+2) to build comfort with incremented decisions. See Zeitnot.
- Tactical oversights in sharp complications — e.g. forks and knight jumps (watch out for Nb4/Nd2 ideas). In the loss vs dragonkibutsuji18 a knight jump into d2/ c4 squares delivered decisive counterplay.
- Pawn pushes creating holes — advancing pawns without adequate piece support sometimes leaves central/queenside holes (targets for enemy knights and bishops).
- Converting small advantages: sometimes you exchange into positions where your activity disappears. Keep at least one active piece to support passed pawns or kingside activity.
Concrete drills (daily & weekly)
- Daily (15–30 min): 30 tactics (mixed) — focus on forks, pins and decoy patterns. Use short sessions to simulate blitz tempo.
- 3x week (30–45 min): 5–10 endgame exercises — rook + pawn vs rook, queen vs rook, and outside passed pawn technique. Convert the won positions you create in blitz.
- 2x week (30–60 min): Opening focus — review typical Kan and Caro-Kann plans (not just moves). For each line pick 2 typical plans: pawn breaks, piece re‑routing, and king-side plans.
- Weekly: 8–10 blitz games with a clear constraint: no premoves, and stop to think if under 10 seconds. Use 3+2 control for practice.
4-week improvement plan
- Week 1 — Tactics sprint & clock discipline
- Daily 20–30 tactics, 15 min endgame basics, play 10 blitz games at 3+2 focusing on keeping 20s on clock at move 20.
- Week 2 — Endgame and conversion
- Practice rook endgames and queen/rook vs pawn endings. Convert at least 5 winning endgame puzzles.
- Week 3 — Opening plans, not memorization
- Pick two Kan/Caro-Kann lines you use most. For each, write 3 middlegame plans and 3 typical tactical motifs. Drill these in training games.
- Week 4 — Apply under timed conditions
- Play 20 blitz games, alternate 3+2 and 5+1. After each loss, make a one-line note: “why lost” (time, tactic, structure).
Practical tips to use right away
- Before each game: choose the line you will play for the first 10 moves. Have a simple plan (e.g. “play Kan, aim c5 break, bring knight to d5”).
- If behind on the clock, simplify: exchange queens when you’re safe and go to an endgame where you can flag less frequently.
- Avoid one-square pawn thrusts that create outposts for enemy knights. If you push, have a follow-up piece plan.
- Keep one active piece if you have a passed pawn — swapping everything off too early kills winning chances.
Short annotated notes from your recent games
- Win vs chesstalent2006 — You used piece activity + queenside passed pawn. Replay the moments when you decided to keep rooks on the file instead of exchanging — those were crucial.
- Wins vs dragonkibutsuji18 (other games) — good tactical awareness and quick exploitation of weak squares after simplifying (watch the transition from tactics into material gain).
- Loss vs dragonkibutsuji18 — the decisive tactic was a knight invasion (Nd2+ style). When the opponent has an active knight near your king, look for forks and defend the critical squares (c4/d2/e4).
Motivation & next metrics
Your long-term trend and recent +95 one‑month change show the training is working. Target: keep the current training cycle and aim for lower loss-rate in blitz by reducing time losses and tactical blunders. Small goals: reduce games lost on time by 50% in a month; raise blitz conversion rate by securing simpler winning endgames.
If you want, I can:
- Make a personalized 4‑week Tactics + Endgame workout (with daily tasks).
- Annotate 2 of your recent games move-by-move and produce a short checklist you can apply in live games.
- Build a 20–30 move “blitz-ready” opening card for your most-played Kan and Caro-Kann lines.
Tell me which option you want and I’ll prepare it.