Daria Voit WGM

Hi Daria!

You continue to display the ambitious, forward-looking style that has long been your trademark. Below is a snapshot of what you are doing especially well and where the biggest rating gains still lie.

Your current trajectory

• Peak blitz rating so far: 2590 (2021-10-23) – this is already elite, yet the game samples show room for another 50-100 points with small refinements.
• Activity charts:
   

Key strengths

1. Dynamic piece play. In the recent win against Nechto37 you sacrificed the a-pawn (9.a4!) to seize dark-square control and later converted with the elegant 29.Nh6+ tactic.
2. Tactical alertness under moderate time pressure. Even when your clock dipped below one minute you spotted resources such as 17.Nfxd4 (Modern Triangle game) and 32.Rxg6 versus rachidhuilda.
3. Opening breadth. In a single Titled Tuesday you wheeled out the Caro-Kann, Queen’s Gambit, Slav, Trompowsky and the provocative …Bg4 anti-Zukertort setup. This makes you hard to prepare for.

Biggest improvement levers

1. Early-move knight adventures as Black.
   The loss to Володимир Михальський started promisingly, but the sequence 5…Nb4–6…Nd3+–7…Nf4+ burned three tempi, left your king in the centre and eventually cost the e6/b5 pawns. Aim for one knight incursion per opening, then consolidate.
   Rule of thumb: if you’ve moved the same minor piece three times before move 10, ask “does this create a concrete threat right now?”
2. Clock management in converted positions.
   Three of the listed losses were won-on-time or resignation in clearly drawable positions. You usually reach favourable structures, then slip into calculation loops. Inject a quick “blitz mode” trigger:
   
   • With 30 s left, forbid yourself from spending >5 s on any single move unless mate is in sight.
   • Practise premove chains in won rook-and-pawn endings on Lichess Puzzle-Storm or Chess.com Drills.
3. Prophylactic thinking against counter-punchers.
   In the Trompowsky loss to Andrzej Krzywda you had a space advantage, but Black’s …c5/…Rc8/…cxd4 came with tempo because Bf1 and c3 were loose. Try the “candidate reversal” exercise: before committing to an attacking move, spend 10 s asking “what counter-punch would I hate to face here?” This is classic prophylaxis.
4. Converting technical endgames.
   In your checkmated game versus Sanan Sjugirov you reached an objectively drawn 3-vs-3 rook ending but let both rooks become passive. Review the famous Rook Endings: Philidor-L & Lucena patterns and drill them daily for one week; that alone is worth ~20 Elo in blitz finals.

Illustrative micro-lesson

Consider the critical moment from the Mikhal867 game:

Here the engines suggest the calm 30…Bxd5! 31.Bxd5 Rd8, liquidating into a holdable rook ending. Instead 30…Kc7? walked into the Nd5+ fork. The fix is simple: as soon as your opponent has a forcing king check available, make it your first candidate for them.

Action plan for the next 14 days

1. Daily 10-minute clock-push drill: play a won position vs Stockfish @ level 5, starting with 45 s and 1 s increment, goal = deliver mate without flagging.
2. Revisit the Anti-English line 1…Nf6 2.Nc3 c5 but adopt the safer 5…e6/…d5 Scheveningen setup instead of the Nb4-Nd3+ motif for one blitz session; compare results.
3. Watch one 20-minute video (or read notes) on Karpov’s prophylaxis; immediately annotate one of your own Trompowsky games marking all missed zwischenzug or prophylactic opportunities.

Closing thought

You are already beating 2300-2400 players on a routine basis. By slowing down slightly at move 15-20 and tightening your endgame conversion you can push into the 2500+ blitz bracket. Keep the ambition high—just add a dash of patience!

Good luck and enjoy the grind,
—Your Chess Coach 🤖