Dinara Wagner WGM

What you did well in your blitz games

• You showed clarity of plan in the latest win, using active piece play and solid king safety to convert a complex middlegame into a decisive endgame. Your ability to coordinate rooks and minor pieces under pressure is a strong asset in blitz.
• When the position opened up, you kept calculating to the end and found practical resources to press for an advantage, which is a valuable skill in fast time controls.
• Your opening choices indicate comfort with dynamic, tactical lines (such as Najdorf and Grunfeld-like structures), giving you good chances to seize initiative in the early middlegame.

Areas to improve

• Time management in blitz: practice allocating your thinking time more predictably. A simple plan is to aim for a steady pace that leaves a few minutes for the endgame and to avoid getting bogged down on a single decision.
• Endgame technique: several blitz games reach rook or minor piece endings. Build a small, regular drill routine focused on converting rook endings with active king play, and recognizing when simplifying is advantageous.
• Prophylaxis and handling counterplay: before trades, ask what your opponent’s plan is and how the structure will look after exchanges. This helps reduce surprising tactics and keeps your plans intact.
• Opening depth and plan formation: continue to deepen a focused list of core lines for your main openings, so you have clear middlegame plans and typical pawn structures to steer the game toward favorable endings.

Opening repertoire and ideas

Your openings show a mix of strategic and tactical ideas. You seem comfortable in aggressive lines like the Sicilian Najdorf and Grunfeld-like structures, which can yield quick advantages when your opponent overextends. To strengthen further, consider 2-3 openings as your core repertoire and build a concise reference for typical middlegame plans, key pawn breaks, and common endgames. You can explore ideas in these lines:

• Najdorf/Sicilian dynamic ideas Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation
• Grunfeld Counterthrust tendencies Grünfeld Defense: Counterthrust Variation
• Nimzo-Indian Three Knights Duchamp ideas Nimzo-Indian Defense: Three Knights, Duchamp Variation
• Kings Indian/Be3 lines and related pawn structures King's Indian Defense: Be3 lines

Training plan for the next weeks

• Daily tactic practice (15–20 minutes) focused on rapid calculation and recognizing patterns to speed up decisions in blitz.
• Weekly endgame session (20–30 minutes) concentrating on rook endings and king activity to improve conversion ability in blitz.
• Post-game reviews: analyze the last 3 blitz games, identify one concrete improvement per game—why the decision was good or where a better alternative existed.
• Opening study: lock in 2 openings as your core repertoire and create a one-page cheat sheet with main plans, typical maneuvers, and a few common traps.
• Time management drills: run short (3–5 minute) blitz sets with a goal to reach critical moments with enough time for the endgame.

Next practical plan

Focus on tightening endgame technique and reducing over-ambitious exchanges in the middlegame. Lean into your strong tactical sense, but balance it with prophylaxis and time-efficient decision making so you convert more games from promising middlegames into wins.