Coach Chesswick
Performance Snapshot
Your current form is very solid, sitting close to 2653 (2024-10-26). The graphs below can help you visualise when you play your best chess:
Key Strengths
- Tactical awareness. Your win against Hugo Wernberg shows a keen eye for loose pieces and an ability to convert material quickly once the position opens.
- Dynamic piece play. You rarely shy away from active choices (e.g. …Nxe4 in your Queen’s-Gambit-Declined games) and often seize the initiative.
- Opening variety. The mix of Slav, QGD, Larsen/Réti and Scandinavian keeps opponents guessing and indicates good overall opening culture.
Growth Areas
- King safety in sharp openings. In the loss to Димитрий Король (Dragon-Fianchetto) and to darkknightza (Scandinavian) your king wandered into the centre early. Review the typical pawn breaks and safe king routes in these systems.
- Conversion in winning endgames. Two recent time-outs (vs Same_Old_Jets and ojarke) happened with roughly equal or even favourable material. Practise simple technical endings so you can finish them almost “on autopilot” and save clock time.
- Clock management. You often reach move 25 with <15 s. Consider the “20-40-40 rule”: keep ~40 % of your time for the last 40 % of the moves. Playing a few increment games can teach the habit of moving faster in familiar positions.
- Prophylactic thinking. Several losses started with optimistic pawn pushes (h4/h5, f5/f4) that weakened squares around your king. Add a quick “what will my opponent do after my move?” check to your routine – classic prophylaxis.
Game-Specific Nuggets
Recent Win – Slav vs Schack-Hugo
You handled the Nd2-b5-a4-a5-a6 space-gaining plan beautifully.
Illustrative fragment:
- 13.a6! provoked …Bc8 and tied Black’s queenside for the rest of the game.
- Try adding 18.Qb1 (instead of 21.Qa1) in future games – it keeps the queen more flexible.
Recent Loss – Dragon Fianchetto vs KorolDimitriy75
Critical moment: 19…Rfe8?
- After 19…e5! the c4-knight plug would have given you the initiative.
- Remember that in the Fianchetto-Dragon you must challenge the d5-square before White secures it with Nb4-c6 ideas.
Action Plan for the Next Two Weeks
- Micro-goal: Start every blitz session with five 3-min +2 s games and aim to keep >20 s on your clock by move 30.
- Opening focus: Review the mainlines of the Dragon Fianchetto (moves 8-15) and the …Qd8 Scandinavian. Play at least 15 training games in each line.
- Puzzle routine: 15 min/day on defence-oriented puzzles to sharpen board vision when the king is under fire (search for tags: “double-check”, “zwischenzug”, “back-rank”).
- Endgame drill: Practise K+P vs K and basic rook endings until you can win them in <30 s on a physical board; this will turbo-charge your blitz conversion rate.
Encouragement
You have all the tools to push beyond your current level. Refine your decision-making in critical moments, respect your king’s safety, and watch the rating climb. Enjoy the journey!