David Diego Ballesteros Gonzalez FM

Hi David Diego Ballesteros González (davydbg), here’s your personalized feedback!

1. Quick Snapshot

• Current form: solid 1650-1700 in 2 + 1 blitz.
• Best recorded peak: 2681 (2020-05-09).
• Activity trends:

2. Strengths to Keep Building On

• Opening variety – you comfortably switch between 1.d4/1.Nf3 systems and handle the Black side of Modern, Slav and Sicilian structures.
• Dynamic pawn play – the Kings-Indian win against sindhucrick11 shows good use of breaks (e4–d5, f4–f5) to open lines toward the king.
• Piece activity – when you mobilise quickly (e.g. 26.Bd4! in the same game) you often seize the initiative and force errors.
• Fighting spirit – many games are decided in equal endgames where you keep pressing until the opponent’s flag falls.

3. Recurrent Issues Holding You Back

• Time management – four of the last five losses were on time in still playable positions. Good chess moves are useless if they arrive after 0 : 00.
• Over-optimistic pawn storms as Black – in the Sicilian loss vs Sasa Micic you launched …b5/…a5 without completing development and got hit by Nxb5! / Nxd6!. Critical fragment:
  
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• King safety in the centre – versus westcove and others you delayed castling, allowing late tactical shots. Even when it works, it burns clock.
• Conversion technique – won positions sometimes drift into long endgames (see the 120-move grind vs hullabulla). Faster, cleaner conversions would save clock and energy.

4. Targeted Improvement Plan

1. Discipline the clock
   • Adopt a speed budget: no move should take more than 10 s until move 15 unless theory ends.
   • When up +2 material, switch to bullet mode: trade, push pawns, premove obvious recaptures.
2. Patch the pawn-storm blind spot
   • Before pushing a flank pawn ask: “Can my opponent hit the square I just weakened with tempo?” If yes, postpone.
   • Re-analyse the Cicmis game; set up the position before 16…a5 and practise with “What would I play for White?”
3. Opening housekeeping
   • Modern/Philidor: prepare a simple …c6–d5 equalising scheme so you aren’t stuck defending cramped lines.
   • Sicilian: swap the O’Kelly (…a6) for Kan / Taimanov lines; they’re sounder and easier to learn.
4. Endgame finishing drills
   • Spend 10 min/day on rook-and-pawn technique. Positions like R+f-pawn vs R are frequent in your games.
   • Practise side-to-side checks & the Lucena/Philidor methods – search them here: Lucena position, Philidor position.

5. Next Steps

• Review each session with a 5-minute self-quiz: “Why did I spend >20 s on this move?”
• Replace two blitz games a day with 10 | 5 rapid to train deeper calculation without clock panic.
• Keep a mini-database of personal opening traps (both sides) so the same tactical shots don’t surprise you twice.

Stay focused, manage your time, and you’ll break 1800 soon. Good luck and enjoy the journey!