Coach Chesswick
Quick summary
Jose Ramon — nice session. Your rating is moving upward and you're creating dynamic chances consistently. Your recent win shows good tactical awareness and active piece play; your losses highlight time management and a few technical/endgame issues. Below are focused observations and a short, practical plan to improve in blitz.
Highlight from your most recent win
Key strengths demonstrated (game vs Sławomir Kurpiewski):
- Good use of pawn breaks and flank play to open lines for your bishops and rooks.
- Active piece placement — rooks and bishops coordinated to create tactical threats.
- Clean calculation in the tactical sequence that led to material gains and simplification.
Replay the decisive phase to study the tactics and coordination:
What you're doing well
- Creating imbalance and seeking active positions — this is why your Najdorf and Caro‑Kann numbers look strong.
- Good at converting dynamic chances: when you open files or diagonals, you find forcing continuations.
- Practical opening repertoire: several lines give you winning chances quickly in blitz.
Areas to improve (big gains for little work)
- Time management: multiple games ended on time. Practice quicker decision heuristics so you don’t flag in roughly equal positions.
- Endgame technique: work basic rook endgames and king-and-pawn opposition to avoid losing long technical fights.
- Dutch Defense: your results there lag. Either tighten the main lines and key plans or swap it for a more reliable blitz choice.
- Avoid early king moves into the center (e.g., moving to e2) unless necessary — exposed kings invite tactics.
- When up material and low on time, favor simplification and trading to reduce the need for precise long calculation.
Two‑week blitz plan (practical)
- Daily (15–25 minutes):
- 10–15 tactics puzzles focusing on pins, discovered attacks and knight forks.
- 5–10 minutes of endgame drills: king+pawn vs king, Lucena/Philidor basics, and opposition exercises.
- 3× per week: play 5–10 unrated 5|0 games focusing on clock habits — keep a 20–30s buffer. After each session, quickly review one game where you spent >20s on a normal move.
- Opening work (3 × 30min sessions this week):
- Make a one‑page cheat sheet for your Dutch (or a replacement opening) with typical pawn breaks and two model plans.
- Reinforce the Bird/anti‑Dutch ideas that surfaced in your win and make 2–3 quick move orders ready to play instantly in blitz. See Bird Opening.
- Weekly review: pick your best win and worst loss and write 3 improvements + 3 successes from each.
Practical blitz tips to apply immediately
- If you have the time advantage, simplify: trade pieces and head to a technical endgame rather than inventing new complications.
- If short on time, play natural developing or forcing moves (checks, captures) instead of searching for the “perfect” strategic maneuver.
- Pre‑moves: only use them for forced recaptures or trivially safe replies.
- Learn 6–8 "auto‑pilot" opening move orders so your first 6–8 moves take 5–10 seconds total.
Small game‑specific notes
- Win vs Slawomir_Kurpiewski: the exchange that opened the long diagonal and the subsequent tactics were the turning point — look for those exchanges that convert a cramped position into open lines targeting the king.
- Losses decided on time: practice the “fast hand” mode in noncritical positions — pick a natural plan and execute it quickly, reserve deep calculation for clear critical moments.
- In games where you win material, consider immediate simplification when low on time — trading down reduces risk of tactical backfires.
If you want a follow‑up
Tell me which single game (win/loss/draw) you want a deeper move‑by‑move postmortem for and I’ll annotate the critical 8–12 moves, suggest better alternatives and highlight patterns to remember.