Barbarian_chess30 NM

Hi Barbarian_chess30!

You have put together an impressive run in the 60-second and 3-minute pools, and your current 2640 (2022-08-29) shows that the hard work is paying off. Below is a quick snapshot of your recent results:

What’s working well

• Opening breadth. From the French, the Scandinavian and solid Queen’s-Pawn structures to double-fianchetto English positions, you are comfortable steering play into many different territories. This keeps opponents guessing and gives you the element of surprise.
• Fast tactical vision. Your wins against callasushi and haloway show crisp calculation under time pressure—especially the Rxb8-Rb8-Rxa6 motif and the long king walk in the English endgame.
• Resourcefulness when under attack. In the win versus ParagonFighter you found …Ne4! followed by a decisive queen incursion, proving you can hit back in positions that look passive.

Opportunities to grow

1. Consistent king safety in the French.
   The loss to dex-gm hinged on leaving your back rank and dark squares loose after …Qxh4. Consider adding the classical manoeuvre …h6 & …Be6-f5-g6 to avoid the queen chase and keep the rook on f8 guarding the eighth rank.
2. Exchange-up technique.
   Even when a pawn or the exchange up you sometimes allow counterplay (e.g. DIMONBANAN’s …c4-c3-a3 push). Review model games where the stronger side slowly restricts counterplay before converting—Capablanca’s endings are a gold mine.
3. Prophylactic thinking.
   Before launching pawn storms like g4-g5 or h4-h5, ask the simple “what-if” questions: “If my plan succeeds, what is left unprotected?” 20 seconds spent here will save you 200 points of Elo.
4. Time management in won endings.
   The timeout against wongry came from spending too long on a clearly winning rook ending. Practise “increment-less” drills where you must convert with ≤10 seconds on the clock.

Critical moment to study

The position below is from your game with DEX-GM. Black to move already faces serious pressure on the dark squares. Try setting this up on a board and look for the least-worst defensive scheme before checking the engine:

Action plan for the next week

• Play 10 blitz games starting the French only after reviewing 30 minutes of annotated French Exchange games—focus on dark-square defence.
• Finish two endgame drill sets on Chess.com: “Rook vs. Minor Piece” and “Convert the Exchange”.
• Analyse one win and one loss without an engine, then compare with the engine and write down three lessons from each.
• Spend 15 minutes/day on calculation puzzles where the objective is not to move until you see the full line—helps ingrain prophylaxis.

Keep up the fighting spirit, keep the king safe, and tighten the technique—2600+ in blitz is well within reach.