Serhii

Quick summary

Good session — you converted tactical chances and showed strong opening results in several lines. Your short‑term rating trend is up (1 month +28, 3 month +111) so your practice is paying off. That said, recurring endgame technique and occasional overextension in the middlegame cost you important games. Below are focused, practical fixes for your blitz play.

What you're doing well

• Opening comfort: Your results in lines like Caro-Kann Defense, the Center Game and some gambits are excellent — you get quick, comfortable positions and you know typical plans.
• Tactical awareness: In your recent win where you mated after a bishop tactic you spotted the key sacrifice and finished accurately — nice pattern recognition.
• Winning chances conversion: Your overall win record is high (5,324 wins) and you convert practical chances in blitz — you don’t shy away from complications when they favor you.
• Good stamina for volume play: You play a lot of games (historical GameCount numbers are large) which helps you learn practical patterns quickly.

Main areas to fix

• Endgame technique — especially rook + pawn endings and king + passed pawn races. In your recent loss against walovi1984 you ended up in a long pawn race where the opponent’s king and connected passed pawn decided the game. Work on basic winning/defending methods (Lucena, Philidor, active rook principles).
• Positional defense / piece activity — avoid passive rook and king placement. When under pressure prioritize activating the rook behind passed pawns or putting the king towards the center in rook/pawn endgames.
• Opening repertoire pruning — you do very well in many lines, but some lines (Petrov) show lower success. Either study the critical lines or avoid the line in blitz where you feel uncomfortable.
• Time management in critical phases — you can win from complicated positions but getting low on time forces imprecise defense. Try to keep a 20–30 second bank for long critical decisions (or play 5|3 instead of 3|0 when practicing conversion).

Specific game notes (actionable takeaways)

• Win vs maminhz — how you won:

  You exploited a king exposed after the opponent played an early queen move and later weakened f3. You spotted the bishop sacrifice and followed with forcing moves to mate. Takeaway: your tactical sharpness and ability to calculate forcing lines is a strength — keep refining pattern recognition for bishop sacrifices, discovered checks and mating nets.
• Win vs drjumu — how you converted:

  You built pressure on the kingside, exchanged into a favourable queen/rook endgame and won after tactical clearance on the enemy king. Keep the habit of simplifying into endgames you understand well.

• Loss vs walovi1984 — key lessons:

  This was a long endgame where passive rook placement and under‑estimation of the opponent’s passed pawn destroyed counterplay. Focus on: 1) keeping your rook active on the open file or behind passed pawns, 2) using the king earlier, 3) recognizing when to simplify versus when to keep pieces for counterplay.

Practical training plan (4 weeks)

- Week 1 — Tactics & pattern reinforcement:
• Daily 12–15 minutes of tactics (emphasize mating patterns, forks, pins, sacrifices).
• Goal: 70%+ accuracy on puzzles; focus on quick recognition in <30s.
- Week 2 — Endgames:
• 30 minutes total over the week: study Lucena/Philidor, basic rook endgames, king + passed pawn technique.
• Practice 5 endgame drills per day (e.g., defending the third rank, building a bridge).
- Week 3 — Opening consolidation:
• Pick 2 main blitz openings you score best in (your data shows Caro-Kann Defense and Center Game are profitable). Deepen one typical line with 10 model games and one short home prep novelty.
• Avoid or rework lines with low win rates like Petrov's Defense until studied.
- Week 4 — Practical conversion & time control:
• Play 10 games at 5|3 (not pure 3|0) and practice converting small advantages under a realistic clock.
• Record 3 losses and run quick postmortems focusing on the turning point move and a 5‑move improvement plan per game.

Quick checklist before each blitz session

• 1–2 minute warm‑up: 5 puzzles to wake up pattern recognition.
• Pick openings for the session and stick to them — don’t experiment in blitz unless deliberately training.
• If down material but have counterplay, keep time >20s for critical defensive moves; otherwise simplify into a drawn or winning endgame.
• After each loss, note one recurring mistake (endgame passivity, missed tactic, bad king safety) and aim to remove it within the next 5 games.

Data-driven suggestions

• Your Strength Adjusted Win Rate ~0.485 suggests you win slightly less than expected vs similarly adjusted opponents — tighten endgame defense and reduce avoidable mistakes to push this above 0.5.
• Use your momentum: your 1 month rating change (+28) and 6 month trend are positive — consolidate gains with focused endgame work to make the trend stable.
• Keep exploiting openings where you have +50%–65% win rates (Center Game, Amar Gambit) and reduce play in lines where your win rate is below 50% until you study the key ideas.

Next steps for your next 48 hours

• Do a 20‑minute session: 15 min tactics, 20 min Lucena/Philidor study, then 3 rapid games at 5|3 focused on conversion.
• Analyze one loss with a checklist: (a) where did king safety fail, (b) could you activate a rook earlier, (c) was there a winning simplification?
• Keep a short logfile: opponent, result, one lesson. Small habits compound fast.

Helpful links & placeholders

• Opponent you mated: maminhz
• Long endgame loss to review: walovi1984
• Opening to double down on: Caro-Kann Defense and Sicilian Defense: Alapin Variation