Coach Chesswick
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 📈
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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!