Mihael Ankerst FM

What you’re doing well

You’ve shown a solid ability to develop pieces and keep your king safe in rapid games. In your winning encounter, you opened with a standard king-pawn move, developed knights and bishops smoothly, and used your rooks along open files to create pressure on the opponent’s position. You also demonstrated tenacity by maintaining activity and finishing with a tactical finish when opportunities appeared.

• You continue to fight for active play rather than settling for passive positions, which helps you keep chances in dynamic middlegames.
• Your ability to coordinate pieces after development—bringing rooks into central files and using your queen to threaten key squares—shows good practical understanding in sharp sequences.
• In the draw and the loss, you remained fighting and did not rush to convert every position; you looked for counter chances and tried to complicate when appropriate.

Key areas to improve

• Opening-to-middlegame planning: In some games, the middlegame plan becomes unclear after the first moves. Focus on a simple, repeatable plan after your opening, so you know what your pieces are aiming for (e.g., control of the center, pressure on a specific file, or targeting a weak pawn) rather than trading into a neutral position.
• Endgame conversion: When you gain a small initiative, work on converting it into a win. Practice common endgame transitions so you can maintain pressure longer and reduce draws when you have a slight edge.
• Calculation discipline: In tactical or sharp moments, improve your ability to verify safety after each forcing line. Look for two or three candidate continuations and check for checks, captures, and threats to your own king before committing.
• Time-management in rapid: Avoid spending excessive time on earlier moves when the plan is not yet clear. Develop a practical time budget (for example, a quick 10–12 moves in the opening, with a plan to simplify or switch plans if the position stays unclear) so you have time for deeper calculation in critical middlegame moments.

Two-week practical plan

• Choose a small, reliable white repertoire (two openings) and a straightforward black response (one or two solid defenses). Learn the typical middlegame plans for those choices and practice the key ideas in sample games.
• Do daily tactics training (15–20 minutes) focused on recognizing forcing sequences and short tactical motifs like pins, skewers, and discovered attacks.
• Block out 20–30 minutes for endgame basics each week (rook endings, king-and-pawn endings, and simple rook- vs-rook endgames). Practice converting small advantages into wins.
• Review every game quickly after playing: identify one critical moment where you could have chosen a clearer plan or avoided a risky line, and write down a single improvement for the next game.

Suggested study focus

• Pattern recognition in tactics: solve puzzles that emphasize checks and captures in the middlegame.
• Endgame fundamentals: practice rook endgames and simple pawn endgames until you can push a plan confidently.
• Opening planning: pick two openings you enjoy and study the typical middlegame ideas, not just the move orders. Learn how to transition from the opening into a concrete plan for the middlegame.

Encouraging mindset

You are making steady progress and showing resilience in tricky positions. Keep building a compact, repeatable plan you can rely on in the first 15 moves, and balance calculation with practical play. With consistent practice on the areas above, you should see noticeable improvements in your next few weeks of rapid play.