Coach Chesswick
Quick summary
Nice stretch — your rating trend is moving up and your recent wins show the same strengths that have carried you through 2200+: active piece play, willingness to simplify when it helps, and accurate calculation in sharp lines. Below are practical, blitz-focused takeaways from your most recent win and the pattern across recent games.
Highlighted game (clean wins to model)
Most recent win (2026-01-10) vs aleksandarmilekic. Key features: aggressive kingside play, a well-timed sacrifice that opened lines, and quick follow-up that turned tactical pressure into material gain.
Replay the decisive sequence:
What you do well
- Initiative-first approach: you consistently create practical problems for opponents instead of waiting for perfection.
- Active pieces and coordination: rooks and queens get on open files quickly; you convert pressure into concrete gains rather than vague compensation.
- Wide repertoire & adaptability: you mix closing and sharp lines, so opponents rarely get a comfortable book game.
- Practical endgame sense in many wins — you know when to swap into simpler winning lines.
Recurring issues to fix (high ROI)
- Time trouble. A large share of losses come from scrambles or timeout situations. In blitz you win as much with clock management as with moves.
- Over-extension / king safety. Strong pawn storms but occasional holes appear (especially on dark squares) after you push pawns too quickly without prophylaxis.
- Move-order & opening refinements. Some lines (Modern/… your opponents strike back with timely c4 or ...c5 breaks) give active counterplay because of small move-order inaccuracies.
- Missed simplifications. When ahead you sometimes hunt a longer win instead of trading into a clearly winning endgame — costs time and creates counterplay opportunities.
Opening adjustments (quick, practical)
- Lean on what works: your best win rates are in the Sicilian Defense (Closed) and Amazon Attack — keep those as your default blitz choices so you save time in the opening.
- Fix the Elephant Gambit leak: your stats show many games there. Either prepare a single transposition to neutralize the gambit early, or avoid it in simulations — a prepared reply reduces clock burn and tactical surprises.
- Against queenside pawn storms (…b5/…c4 structures) delay commits — prefer a flexible pawn structure (…d6) until you see White’s plan. If you play lines with …b6/…Bb7, ensure you’ve solved the a-file counterplay (don’t allow a4 to undermine you for free).
Middlegame & tactics (daily drills)
- 10–15 minutes/day: tactics set with emphasis on mating patterns, forks on f2/f7 and discovered attacks along files. Blitz pattern recognition wins games.
- Prophylaxis checklist (run in critical positions): is my king safe? Which opponent piece can I blunt? Any tactical intermezzo? Spend 5–8s extra to run through this in blitz.
- Practice “one-clean-plan” thinking: identify a single plan (attack king / win material / fix a weakness) and force each move to support that plan. Avoid switching plans without a clear trigger.
Endgame & conversion
- Rook + pawn basics: 15 minutes of rook endgames (Lucena / Philidor / building a bridge). These pay off when you simplify while ahead.
- King activity drills: practice king centralization in pawn endgames — in blitz this often decides close positions.
- Opposite-colored bishops: learn the typical fortress motifs so you don’t overpress and lose on the clock fighting for an unlikely win.
Blitz-specific 2-week plan (actionable)
- Daily (30–45 min): 12 min tactics (mixed difficulty) + 15 min opening review of two key lines you play + 2 blitz games (5|0) with immediate 2–3 move self-comments.
- Every 3rd day: play a longer 10|5 or 15|10 game and annotate the critical 10 moves. Use this to practice depth when you have time.
- Weekly checkpoint: review 5 recent losses and mark recurring errors (time, missed tactic, bad trade). Fix one error type the next week.
- Clock routine (apply immediately): first 10 moves ≤30s total; reserve one 60s tank for the toughest decision of the game; at <1:00 always double-check hanging pieces before premoving.
Short checklist before your next session
- Warm up with 5 minutes of puzzles (pattern-based).
- Play 3x 5|0 with the opening you intend to use in the session — stick to the same move-order twice, then switch.
- After each loss, note one concrete improvement and one winning idea from the opponent.
- Goal for next week: reduce timeouts by 50% and convert one extra won endgame per 10 games.
Final note
Your upward trend (+30 last month, +61 last 3 months) shows the right habits. Keep sharpening tactics, tighten the clock routine, and prune one weak opening line. If you want, send one loss you found frustrating and I’ll annotate the turning move and give an exact memory hook you can use under time pressure.
Good luck — short, focused practice will translate into more consistent 2200+ performance.