Praveen Kumar C IM

Hi Praveen!

Great job steadily pushing your 2707 (2024-12-29) higher. Your overall trend is positive (see

What you already do well

• Activity & Initiative: In wins against Eddy L Levi and red_nevera you seized space early, kept the pieces humming, and forced your opponents into time pressure.
• Practical clock handling: Even in tense positions you rarely drop below 10 seconds until very late.
  suggests your score soars in faster games—good sign of solid intuition.
• Spotting tactical shots: …Rxc3!! versus Tacticusbd and 17…Bxb4+ versus Xto_ti_voin show you’re not afraid to calculate concrete lines.

Patterns holding you back

1. Queen adventures too early. The loss to testertje (Winawer) ended after 10…Qa5+?? as your queen was trapped. A similar detour (…Qa6–Qb5) appeared in the recent defeat by Xto_ti_voin.
   Checklist: Ask, “Does this queen move create a direct threat and keep me safe from Nc7⁺ / Nb5 / Ra5 ideas?” If not, keep her home.
2. Under-estimating counterplay when sacrificing.
   In the diagrammed line below you gain pawns but lose coordination and are mated by Nf6#.
   
   
   
   When you give material, pause and count defenders vs. attackers around your own king.
3. Converting technical endgames.
   In the win vs. azertytototgetot you were up an exchange on move 31 yet needed 40 more moves and flag-luck. Practice “won positions” with tablebase drills so you finish faster and save energy.
4. Over-reliance on the French Defense.
   The majority of your losses come from Advance French structures where White plays a3/c4/h4. Learning a second answer to 1.e4 (e.g. the Caro-Kann or the Najdorf) will make you harder to prepare for and give you fresh middlegame themes.

Action plan for the next 4 weeks

Quick opening pointers

• French Advance: prefer 6…Nh6 over 6…Bd7 to hit g4 without blocking your c8-bishop.
• King’s Indian Attack vs French: after 5.g3 you reacted well with 5…0-0, but consider 7…c5! immediately; it scores best in databases.
• Sicilian with …a6 & …c5: if you choose the O’Kelly move-order, study the Venice System plans (…d6, …b5) to avoid getting squeezed like vs. golobnjak.

Mindset tip

You win many games on time; that’s a skill. But don’t let it mask strategic flaws. When reviewing, turn the engine off for the first pass—write why you chose each move. Clarity here will convert even more of those “flag wins” into clean over-the-board victories.

Keep up the grinding spirit, and message me after 30 games—let’s celebrate new milestones!