Hi Barbara!
Great work maintaining a 2530 (2025-06-03) around the mid-2500s. Your game collection shows energetic, principled chess and a willingness to fight in sharp positions. Below is some personalized feedback to help you push toward the next milestone.
What you’re already doing well
- Opening variety & understanding. You comfortably switch between French, Scandinavian, Caro-Kann and 1…e5 structures as Black, and you use both 1.e4 and 1.c4 with White. This keeps opponents guessing and indicates sound theoretical preparation.
- Tactical alertness. In the win versus denis0027 (C11 French) you spotted …g5–g4, …Nf3+ and the deflection …Qe4+ without hesitation, converting a tricky queen ending. Your eye for loose pieces is a clear strength.
- Resourceful defence. Several saved endgames (e.g., vs. 2500+ players in the English Four Knights) show good calculation under pressure and confidence in counter-play instead of passive waiting.
Recurring pain points
- Clock management. Three of the last five losses came from flagging in winning or drawable endings. Even in victories you often reach <10 s. Improving your decision-making speed in “quiet” positions will immediately raise your score.
- Converting advantages. You sometimes over-press after gaining the initiative (e.g., 24…Qg4? in the Caro Exchange loss) rather than cashing in with simpler lines. A bit more focus on safe technique would turn many +2 games into clean wins.
- Prophylactic thinking. Strong opponents punish looseness on your back rank or light squares (see 41…Qd7? allowing a7-a6 in the loss to RexOmnibusFaex). Adding a dose of prophylaxis before launching attacks will reduce such counter-shots.
Targeted action plan
- Adopt a “four-move rule” for quiet positions. If there is no forcing line after 15 s, play the best safe improving move (king safety, piece activation, pawn structure). This alone will fix most time-pressure losses.
- Weekly end-game drill. Spend 15 min/day on rook + pawns vs. rook and queen vs. rook conversions with a physical board or Lichess trainer. Your late-game technique will feel simpler and quicker.
- “Stop, Swap, Simplify.” When up material, consciously look for piece trades or forced transitions to winning endings before hunting further tactics. Annotate one of your wins each week, highlighting positions where a calm trade was possible.
- Structure-based opening review. Instead of memorising extra theory, pick one critical structure per week (e.g., French Winawer pawn chain). Play 5–10 thematic blitz games starting from Move 10 against the computer to deepen plans on both sides.
- Tournament-style sessions. Once a week play three 10 + 0 games in a row, no distractions, notebook beside you. After each game write one sentence: “Biggest decision I took too much time on.” Review after a month; patterns will appear.
Illustrative moment
Below is a snapshot from your Caro-Kann Exchange game where maintaining tension was critical. Compare the bold line (game) with the calmer alternative.
[[Pgn| [FEN "r2qr1k1/5pp1/2pp1n1p/1p2p1B1/1P1P4/2N1PQ2/5PP1/R3R1K1 w - - 0 22"] 22. Bxf6 Qxf6 23. Qxc6 exd4 24. Ne4 Qe5 25. g3 Rec8 26. Qxd6 Qxd6 = ]]Notice how 22.Bxf6! eliminates Black’s most active piece and heads into a superior queen ending instead of the sharp line chosen in the game.
When do you play best?
According to your stats you peak around 20:00–23:00 server time and on Wednesdays.
Next milestone
With tighter clock handling and cleaner conversions, 2600 Blitz is a realistic short-term goal. Let’s check again after 50 games to measure progress!
Keep up the fighting spirit, and enjoy the journey!