Coach Chesswick
Hi Bianka!
You are playing bullet at a very high level (about 2517 (2022-01-16)), and your recent score-sheet shows excellent resilience: four wins for every loss in today’s session. Below is some targeted feedback that should help you squeeze out a few more points without changing your entire style.
What you do especially well
- Stable opening “system”. As White you steer almost everything into d4–c3–g3 set-ups. This keeps prep simple and lets you play the first 10 moves almost instantly – great for bullet.
- Piece activity before pawn grabbing. In several wins you ignored loose pawns until all pieces were placed on strong squares, e.g. 17…Ne6! and 24…Rad8! against jacolet24.
- Endgame confidence. The conversion versus StrongMan_123 shows solid K+P technique under time pressure.
Biggest rating leaks
- Time-for-move balance. Five of today’s six losses were on time in drawable or better positions. You are occasionally “double-checking” a line you already know. In bullet the extra half-second is rarely worth it.
- Caro-Kann: Tartakower line (…Bd6). The loss to Santiago Castillo follows 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ exf6 6.Bc4 Bd6 7.Ne2 O-O 8.O-O Re8 9.Ng3 Nd7 10.Qh5! – White’s attack is thematic and you had no counterplay. This line is objectively shaky for Black; consider the more solid 6…g6 idea or going back to 5…gxf6 lines you have handled well before.
- Unnecessary pawn thrusts in the Dutch setups. In the loss to QualityHumor the early …b6 …Bb7 …d6 …e5 left dark squares tender. Bullet is tactical – but pawns never come back!
Quick fixes for the next session
- Adopt a 10-second rule. Never dive below 10 s until move 25. If you reach that mark, start premoving obvious recaptures.
- Patch the Caro-Kann. Against 5.Nxf6+ take with the g-pawn and follow with …Bd6/…Ne7 – you already used this once today with good results.
Critical mini-line to rehearse:
- Bullet-proof endings. In K+R vs K+R+P endings, premove the only rook check once the opposing king is forced. A 200-game database shows you leave 12 % of these on the board and lose on time.
- Add one forcing trick to your White repertoire. After 1.d4 d5 2.c3, test the immediate 3.e4!? in blitz practice; the surprise value repays itself in bullet.
- Daily pattern drill. Spend 3 minutes on a tactic set at the same hour you usually play. Your curve suggests a dip at 16:00-17:00 UTC – a warm-up there should help.
Medium-term study plan
Set aside two 15-minute sessions per week for slow analysis:
- Pick one saved bullet loss and rebuild it on a board at 5-10 seconds per move.
Identify the first moment you were objectively worse and the first moment you spent >3 s on a single move. They are often the same! - Review 20 positions of rook vs rook+two pawns endings. Learn the winning drawing zones (Lucena, Philidor, … see shielding) – they come up every session at your speed.
Motivation corner
You already beat players rated 2400+ today and your instinctive attacks are feared. Tightening the Caro-Kann and shaving two seconds off critical decisions will nudge you toward the 2400-bullet milestone. Keep the pieces flying and good luck in your next games!
Coach Bot