Coach Chesswick
Quick summary
Hi Béla — nice work in your recent rapid games. You show strong tactical vision and a good nose for creating active piece play and passed pawns. Your wins demonstrate effective exploitation of open lines; your losses point to a couple of recurring themes you can clean up quickly (king safety in sharp lines, and defending against passed pawns).
Highlights — what you did well
- Creating and using open files: in your recent win vs floriz you opened the center and used the files to invade with rooks and queens — good timing on simplification when it increased your activity.
- Tactical alertness: you found tactics (knight forks, captures on f4, discovered checks) and followed up accurately to turn activity into material or mating threats.
- Active piece play: you coordinate knights and rooks quickly instead of waiting; that puts opponents under pressure, especially in rapid time controls.
- Converting advantages: you often turn small imbalances (open file, advanced pawn) into concrete targets — strong practical conversion skill.
Key moments to review (concrete)
- Win vs floriz (Vienna Game-type structure): study the middle-game where you opened the c-file and then used rooks/queen to invade the back rank — a solid example of converting dynamic play into a decisive attack.
- Loss vs thunderstrike599: the early Bxf7+ leads to messy play and a pawn race. The lesson: only execute speculative sacrifices when you are confident of follow-up or of king safety on both sides; otherwise you risk ending in a pawn-race endgame where king placement decides the outcome.
Patterns to improve
- King safety in sharp lines — before Bxf7+ or similar checks make a quick checklist: do I have enough follow-up? Is my own king exposed after exchanges?
- Dealing with passed pawns — several losses involved opponents’ pawns becoming mobile and you being slow to blockade or trade them. Prioritize blockade squares and king activation when an endgame is likely.
- Endgame technique under time pressure — centralize the king and learn basic rook/pawn motifs to avoid drifting into lost pawn races.
- Move-order accuracy in openings — when you choose sharp lines, keep concrete plans in mind so you aren’t surprised by tactical replies.
Concrete study plan (4 weeks)
- Daily (15–25 min): tactics — focus on forks, pins, back-rank and discovered attacks. Aim for 12–20 puzzles/day.
- 3×/week (30 min): endgame drills — king & pawn basics and rook endgames (Lucena/Philidor, cut-off technique).
- 2×/week (20–30 min): opening micro-reviews — make one-page plans for your main lines (typical pawn breaks, where to put your king and pieces).
- Weekly: one long rapid practice match (e.g., 15+10) where you deliberately apply your game checklist (below).
Concrete exercises (short)
- Tactics set: 5 back-rank puzzles, 5 knight forks, 5 discovered-attack puzzles for 10 days.
- Endgame set: practice 10–15 Lucena/Philidor drills and 10 king-and-pawn vs king positions until you convert or draw them reliably.
- Practical: take the critical midgame from your loss vs thunderstrike599 and play it out 3–5 times from move 35 with different defenses to learn the defensive plans.
Game checklist (before pressing the clock)
- Count candidate checks and captures in tactical lines — if you can’t calculate to a satisfactory depth, avoid speculative sacrifices.
- If simplifying into an endgame: where will my king be, and can I stop opponent passers?
- Will trades leave my pieces passive? If yes, look for active continuation instead of automatic simplification.
- Under time pressure: trade down only if you know the resulting plan (e.g., “I trade rooks and my king will stop the passer”).
Next steps
- Review the win vs floriz to reinforce the conversion pattern (open lines → invade → finish).
- Spend the next week on endgame drills and 10–15 min of daily tactics — this will reduce the most common loss causes quickly.
- Send one loss position (FEN or the full game) and I’ll give a short, targeted defensive plan from that exact position.
Resources / placeholders
- Opponent profiles: floriz, thunderstrike599
- Openings to review: Bishop's Opening, Vienna Game