Coach Chesswick
Hi Pierre, great effort in your recent blitz run!
Your overall form is strong (current peak: 2694 (2018-11-02)). A quick glance at
and confirms you’re scoring well when you’re fresh, but a noticeable dip appears late in sessions — we’ll come back to that.What you’re doing well
- Tactical alertness under fire. In the win against Евгений Бурмакин you produced the neat finish Nf7# with only a few seconds left. Your pieces coordinate quickly when the king is exposed.
- Active opening choices.
• As Black you’re comfortable in the Sveshnikov (…e6 …Nc6 …d6) and aren’t afraid of the sharp …gxf6 structures.
• With White you use the Fianchetto vs KID and the rare 7.dxc5 idea to reach positions you clearly know. - Fighting spirit. Several wins (e.g. vs Maurizio Brancaleoni) were converted from tricky endings where others might repeat or bail out.
Areas to focus on next
- Clock management.
Four of your last six losses were on time and you were under 5 seconds in most of the others. Even in victories you’re often living on the 1-second increment.
• Adopt a “speed limit”: try to keep ≥30 seconds until move 20.
• Use pre-moves for forced recaptures in known lines (e.g. the …dxc5 exchange you reach every game).
• Play a few 3 + 0 games each day; it forces you to move, then 3 + 1 will feel spacious. - End-game conversion. The 88-move loss to Max Weidenhoefer and the 64-move win vs pinelone both featured won rook-pawn endings that dragged on. Review basic Lucena & Philidor techniques and practise against the engine starting from a single extra pawn.
- Critical position evaluation. In your one decisive loss (vs Iyán González Guedes) 16…Nxe4?! grabbed a pawn but opened dark-square weaknesses and cost the game. When you sense an “I can win a pawn” moment, try the ∆10-second rule: spend an extra 10 seconds asking “what does my opponent get in return?”
Opening micro-tweaks
- Sveshnikov move-order: In the ToddBryant game you played 11…f5 early and later needed …gxf6, letting White’s queen invade. The main-line sequence is 11…Be7 12.c3 Bg5 | 12…O-O first, keeping the king safer before …f5.
- KID Fianchetto with 7.dxc5. The exchange is fine, but against …Nc6 systems you’re sometimes left shuffling pieces. Look at delaying dxc5 until Black commits with …Na6 or …Nc6 for a richer centre you can play fast.
Illustrative moments
Here’s the crisp finish vs EvgenyBurmakin (moves 35-43):
And the key slip in your loss to Iyanastur7:
Training plan (4-week)
- Week 1-2: 20 minutes/day of time-limited puzzle rush (3 minutes). Goal: finish each session with ≥30 solved.
- Week 1-4: End-game drill set: R+P vs R, R+2P vs R+P, K+B&N mate. Use 5 min + 5 sec against the engine.
- Week 3-4: Annotate (not just review) two of your own blitz games per day, focusing on decision time > 10 seconds moves. Record why you paused.
Keep the confidence, tighten the clock discipline, and you’ll push that blitz peak even higher. Good luck — looking forward to seeing the next stride in your game!