Josep Maria Barón Isanta FM

Hi Josep (“BaronJM”) – personalised feedback from your recent Blitz sessions

Your current form at a glance

• Peak Blitz rating: 2297 (2024-09-27)
• Recent performance:
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What you’re doing very well

1. Sharp opening preparation as Black. • King’s Indian vs 1.d4 is yielding excellent positions. • Consistent use of the French Defence vs 1.e4 gives you reliable structures.
   Example: your last win vs Havok345 – you equalised effortlessly and took over the initiative:
   
   
2. Tactical alertness. Your quick spot of …Qh4! and …Bxc3!! in that same game shows good calculation speed in 3 + 2 time controls.
3. Activity in endgames. Many of your wins (e.g. vs kralevsk) stem from pushing the king and rook aggressively instead of “just waiting”.

Recurring issues that are costing points

1. Clock management. • Five of the last seven losses were decided by time trouble or an avoidable resignation while still drawable. • Your habit of entering complications with <15 s often backfires. → Goal: reach move 20 with ≥45 s; practise “increment discipline” (make at least one move every two seconds when low).
2. Converting technical endgames. • Loss vs stenik12345 shows difficulty defending R + P vs minor piece. • Missed theoretical drawing methods in the rook-and-pawn ending against geraki73. → Goal: drill 50 basic rook endings (Philidor, Lucena, Vancura) and minor-piece vs pawns with a engine-guided trainer.
3. Pawn-structure looseness in the English/Réti as White. • Games against yash1987 and meeresgrund illustrate early c4-c5 or g4 pushes that left weaknesses on dark squares. → Goal: review model games in the Botvinnik setup; delay pawn breaks until pieces are harmonised.

Targeted action plan (next two weeks)

Quick opening pointers

• French Defence: consider adding the flexible …a6/…c5 lines (the “Guimard set-up”) to reduce early piece swaps that lead straight to difficult endgames.
• King’s Indian: vs 7.d5 a5 8.Bd3, your …Na6–c5 plan is excellent; log the position after 12…Ne8 as a repertoire tab.
• English: if Black plays …c5 and …Nc6, the Reversed Maroczy with e4/Nge2 gives you a long-term squeeze instead of double-edged pawn storms.

Mindset reminder

“Good positions don’t win games; good moves in time do.” – keep playing simple, quick, forcing moves when the clock is low.

Keep up the sharp play, tidy up those technical endings, and your rating will push beyond 2300 very soon. Happy training!