Jesse Nicholas NM

Hi Jesse!

Your recent games show an energetic, tactical style that often pays off, but also some recurring problems that cost points – especially on the clock. Below are focused suggestions to help you turn more of those promising positions into wins.

1. Time Management – the Low-Hanging Fruit

• Five of the last seven losses were time forfeits in positions that were still playable or even better for you. Consider adopting an “anchor move” policy: if your clock dips below 20 s, make the safest decent move you can find, then recalculate on the opponent’s time.
• Practice increment drills: play 1 | 1 games solely to train the habit of moving with 1-2 s left.
• Use your opponent’s turn to pick two candidate moves so you never start a full think from zero.

2. Opening Refinement

You already score well in the Ruy López/Italian family as Black, but the 4…Nxe4 line in the Four Knights has been a mixed bag – two recent losses came straight from that choice.

• Switch to the quieter 4…Bb4 or plain 4…Bc5 until you’ve memorised the forcing lines after 4…Nxe4 5.Nxe4 d5.
• Versus the French as White you handle the Franco-Sicilian structure well (see the win over drunkfool12). Deepen that repertoire – it fits your aggressive pawn-storm style.
• Against 1.e4 as Black, add one surprise weapon – e.g. the Scandinavian or Modern – so opponents can’t prepare only for Double-King-Pawn positions.

Illustrative Mini-Tactic

From your win vs jpmsa:

Great example of piece activity over material. Keep hunting these motifs!

3. Middlegame Focus Areas

• Over-extension of f- and g-pawns. In both the loss to MulticulturalBishops and Brian-D you advanced …f5 / …g5 too early, weakening your king. Ask “What squares am I giving up?” before any flank pawn push.
• Practise spotting the critical moments where a quiet prophylactic move is stronger than the flashiest tactic. Try pausing when (a) the centre opens, (b) queens come off, (c) a pawn reaches the 5th rank.
• Add two pattern-recognition themes to your tactics set this week: zwischenzug and the deflection sacrifice. They occur frequently in your openings.

4. Endgame  (quick gains)

• Your rook endgames are solid, but you sometimes miss the outside passed pawn idea (game vs lordico). Drill the classic Lucena & Philidor setups for 10 minutes a day.
• Convert small advantages sooner by activating the king earlier; several endings reached move 35 with your king still on the back rank.

5. Progress Tracker

Keep an eye on these milestones:

• 2258 (2018-02-21) – aim to push it +50 in the next month.
• Review performance trends:
  and
  to identify your sharpest playing windows.

Action Plan for the Next Two Weeks

1. Play 50 games of 3 | 2 focusing solely on clock discipline.
2. Memorise the main Four Knights line through move 10 for both sides.
3. Daily: 20 tactics (rating 1800-2000) filtered for deflection and zwischenzug.
4. End each session with one basic rook-and-pawn endgame study.

Stick with the plan and that extra 100 rating points will come naturally. Enjoy the grind, Jesse – you’re on the right track!