Connor Clarke NM

Hi Connor – here’s a focused, constructive review of your recent blitz play

Your current shape at a glance

• Peak blitz rating: 2517 (2025-04-15)
• Activity overview:

What you’re already doing very well ✅

• Conversion in winning endgames. Your most recent win against Krikor Sevag Mekhitarian showed calm technique: after 31…Kf7–36…Kc5 you centralised the king, pushed the passed b-pawn and kept the queen off the board – textbook stuff.
• Spotting tactical shots. In the Sicilian win versus PolarHaze you found 22.Qg4+! and 31.Rd8# in a 20-second scramble – an excellent demonstration of pattern recall under pressure.
• Playing for initiative with Black. You willingly give a pawn (…dxc4 in the QGD and …b5 in the Slav-type structures) to seize activity. This keeps higher-rated opponents off balance.

Recurring trouble-spots 🚧

• Time-management collapses. Four of the five listed losses ended with <10 s on your clock. Many of the critical mistakes (28…Ne4? vs Yushko_Olga, 30…Na3+?! vs RobertoJBM) happened below 20 s. You often burn time in quiet middlegames and then blitz in tactical territory.
• Over-ambitious early pawn pushes. Pushes like 7…f5 (Semi-Slav) and 6…f6 (French) weakened the king and could have been delayed. Try to ask the classic question before moving an f-pawn: “What squares am I giving away?”
• Loose piece coordination when defending. In the Trompowsky loss your major pieces landed on awkward squares (Re5/Qf7) and the back rank fell apart. Work on prophylactic thinking – spotting the opponent’s threat one ply sooner.
• Technical rook endings under pressure. The endgame vs bubeliang (…Kc5, …h4, but missing …Bf1-g2 blockade) shows hesitation in converting extra pawn major-piece endings.

Action plan for the next two weeks 📈

1. Clock discipline drill. Play 5 | 1 games with the goal of being >1 min on move 25. If you drop below, immediately simplify (offer a trade) – this builds the habit of using early time economically.
2. Targeted opening clean-up.
   • QGD / Slav: replace 4…f5 with 4…Nf6 or 4…a6 setups; keep the structure solid before striking.
   • French Defence as Black: in Winawer lines review the Poisoned Pawn main line and the quieter 7…0-0 to avoid the long queenless endgames you dislike.
   • French Advance as White: follow classical plan c4–Nc3–f4 and delay g/h-pawns until the centre is clarified.
3. Endgame micro-sessions. Spend 10 min daily on rook-and-pawn positions (two pawns vs one on the same side, Lucena/Philidor). These frequently appear in your games and will convert half-points.
4. Tactics with a time cap. Use a puzzle-rush style set but force yourself to press “Next” if you haven’t seen the idea in 30 s. This simulates blitz calculation speed.
5. Prophylaxis habit. After every opponent move, verbalise one threat before calculating your own ideas. Mark it “--” on a notepad; you’ll hard-wire a safety check.

Illustrative snippet

How you won the exchange vs GMKrikor:

Note how 18…O-O first secured the king before grabbing material – a model to repeat.

Key concepts to review

• Prophylaxis   • Minority attack   • Lucena position

Final encouragement

You’re already beating 2600-rated titled players when the initiative is yours. Add consistent clock management and a slightly sturdier opening backbone, and crossing 2600 blitz will be a matter of time. Keep the games coming and track the progress with your personal dashboards above!