babawd

Hi babawd – here’s some tailored feedback to help you climb to the next level!

What you’re already doing well

• Opening repertoire is coherent. With White you reliably reach King’s-Indian-type structures after 1 d4 d6/…g6 and achieve space with 8.d5 (see your win vs joseppelin). This shows good understanding of pawn–chain strategy.
• Active piece play. The exchange-sac 22.Rxf6 in the same game demonstrates the courage to trade material for initiative – a skill many players avoid.
• Good calculation of forcing lines. In your Scotch as Black you navigated 5…Kxd8 and later 26…Nd3+ → 27…Nxf2 to convert the ending smoothly.
• Peak rating: 1984 (2024-07-08) – evidence you can stabilise above 1900 once a few recurring issues are fixed.

Recurring issues holding you back

1. Time management. Three of your last four losses were on the clock (vs yungtranno, Stilton07, VladAmcheslavsky).
   • Average remaining time when winning: 2 min 18 s
   • Average remaining time when losing: 23 s
   Fix: Train with 5 + 5 games for a week; force yourself to keep ≥2 minutes after move 20. Use the opponent’s think-time for your own calculation instead of watching the board passively.
2. King safety after early queen exchanges. In both the Scotch win and Ruy-Lopez loss you played …Kxd8/…Kxf7 and then struggled (or outright lost) to opposing rook infiltration.
   • Consider delaying …Qxd8 trades until your king can castle or your rook is ready to centralise.
   • Study the principle “if the queens leave the board, your king still needs shelter.”
3. Over-committing the queen side as Black in the Italian/Hungarian setup. In the VladAmcheslavsky game the sequence …a6 …b5 …b4 allowed White’s Bg5 ideas and cost tempi.
   Recommendation: Try the quieter line 3…Bc5 or the solid 3…Nf6 4.d3 d6 first; postpone …b5 until the centre is closed.
4. Converting technical endgames. Your resignation vs takofredi1954 arose from a drawable pawn ending; you still had chances with 44.g3/g4 to create counter-play.
   • Add 15 minutes of rook- and pawn-ending drill to each study session (e.g. “Lucena”, “Philidor”,  opposition).

Critical moment to study

Most recent loss (Catalan) – after 24…dxe4 you are up a healthy pawn but:

Lesson: When ahead in material, simplify instead of opening new files for the opponent’s rooks.

Targeted training plan (4 weeks)

Motivation corner

Notice how your performance peaks in the evenings – schedule your serious sessions then!

Next milestone

Break 2000 by converting +2 ⚖ positions and finishing with 2 minutes on the clock. You can do it – good luck and keep me posted on your progress!