What You're Doing Well
Thanadon, your recent blitz games showcase some strong fundamentals and good strategic understanding:
- Opening Mastery: You have solid results with openings like the Caro-Kann Defense (over 147 games) and various variations with win rates around 50%-52%. Your comfort in these lines helps you get into middlegame positions you understand well.
- Positional Play: In your recent win against Tatar, you effectively maneuvered your pieces and exploited weaknesses. You showed patience preparing an attack with your bishops and queen, and capitalized on tactical opportunities, forcing resignation.
- Adaptability: You handle different opening systems including the King's Indian Attack and English Opening with commendable win percentages. This flexibility makes you less predictable and better prepared for varied opponents.
- Endgame Awareness: Your games often reach complex endgames. In your draws and wins, you demonstrated good technique converting small advantages and defending challenging positions.
Areas to Improve
To push your blitz performance even further, focus on these key areas:
- Time Management Under Pressure: Some losses and close calls come with critical time pressure moments. Working on managing your clock better—especially in complex positions—can reduce errors and missed chances.
- Tactical Sharpness: Despite good strategic play, occasional missed tactical motifs have cost you games. Regular short tactical training would help you seize winning chances and avoid blunders.
- Opening Repertoire Depth: While your primary openings are strong, adding deeper preparation on sidelines and less common variations could help you gain early initiative in more games.
- Handling Counterattacks: In your losses, opponents sometimes turn the tables with unexpected active moves. Improving your defensive skills and calculation in such dynamic situations will help maintain your advantage longer.
Recommended Next Steps
Given your recent performance and rating stability near 2637, here are some ways to keep improving:
- Incorporate blitz-specific time management drills, such as forcing yourself to make solid moves within fixed short periods.
- Use tactical trainers focusing on common motifs seen in your recent openings, to address recurring blind spots.
- Explore additional lines in your favorite openings like Caro-Kann and English to surprise your opponents and gain early advantages.
- Analyze your losses carefully to identify patterns — particularly opening weaknesses or endgame slips — and study key positions.
- Maintain consistent practice and review your games periodically to reinforce strategic themes and calculation skills.
Summary
Thanadon, your solid opening repertoire and thoughtful positional play are clear strengths. To rise further, sharpening your tactical alertness and improving your blitz time management will be critical. Keep up the excellent work with your opening study and well-rounded play, while focusing on practical time control and calculation improvements.
Your current strength-adjusted win rate above 51% indicates great competitive potential—consistent training and refinement will help unlock even better results.