dctrcj

Your Journey So Far

• Current peak (rapid) rating: 621 (2024-07-10)
• Preferred openings: Scandinavian as Black, Englund-style gambits and Queen’s-Pawn sidelines as White.
• Typical game length: Most of your decisive games finish before move 35, showing a sharp, tactical style.

What You Already Do Well

• Early Tactical Awareness – You often spot loose pieces (e.g. 7…Qxe5+ and 8…Qxg2 in your recent win) and win material quickly.
• Willingness to Complicate – Gambits such as 1…e5 against 1.d4 create wild positions where your opponents blunder first.
• Time Usage – You usually keep a time edge in the opening, which lets you think during critical middlegame moments.

Main Improvement Targets

• King Safety – Five of your last six losses ended in checkmate with your king still in the center. Make “castle before move 10” a strict rule unless you have a concrete reason not to.
• Over-reliance on the Queen – Snatching pawns like 13.Qxa6 (loss vs Mano8519) leaves your queen off-side while the rest of your army sits at home. Develop all minor pieces before the queen goes pawn-hunting.
• Basic Tactics – Many defeats feature missed forks and pins. Daily puzzle practice (five puzzles, five minutes) will hard-wire patterns such as the fork, pin and back-rank mate.
• Endgame Technique – In longer games you sometimes reach won endings but let them slip. Spend a week on king-and-pawn endings; knowing the “square” and “opposition” rules will convert half-points into full points.

Opening Tune-Up

As White
• Try the London (1.d4 & 2.Bf4) or the Italian (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4). Both develop quickly and lead to safer king positions.
As Black
• Your Scandinavian is promising, but prefer the main line 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 followed by …Nc6 and …Bf5/…Bg4. Avoid the early …b6/…Ba6 idea until you’re comfortable meeting 3.d4 and 4.c4.

Illustrative Moment

Here’s a critical fragment from your latest loss. Notice how quickly the attack crashed through after your queen wandered:

Action Plan for the Next Two Weeks

1. Play ten rapid games (15 | 10 or slower) and analyze each one immediately after, noting one move you’re proud of and one move you’d change.
2. Solve 70 tactical puzzles (≈ 5 per day). Focus on motifs where the king is stuck in the middle.
3. Review the opening suggestions above; create a mini “cheat-sheet” of move orders and typical plans.
4. Play two queenless endgame sparring games against a friend or computer set to equal rating. Aim to convert a simple extra pawn.

Stick to this routine and you should see a noticeable jump in confidence and rating within a fortnight.