Aaron

Quick overview

Nice work — your recent games show strong tactical vision and good rook activity, and your long-term rating trend is positive. You won a sharp Colle-style game against caba1888 with a forceful rook invasion; you lost a messy game vs zpifer where king safety was decisive. Your Strength Adjusted Win Rate is about 54% — solid for blitz — and the 6‑month trend is up.

What you're doing well

• Active rooks and file control — in your win vs caba1888 you doubled and invaded with Rf7/Re7 ideas, then sacrificed on e6 to open lines and finish with Rf8#. That's textbook rook coordination.
• Creating and converting tactical chances — you spot forks, captures and mating nets quickly in sharp positions.
• Opening variety — you handle multiple structures (Colle / English / modern setups) without getting lost early.
• Improving trend — your recent slope numbers and 6‑month gains show you're learning from games and climbing.

Main areas to improve

• King safety / back‑rank and mating threats — a couple of losses show opponents exploiting your king (checks, sacrifices on the kingside). Add simple air (pawn moves) or piece cover before launching risky pawn storms. See Back rank.
• Pawn pushes that expose the king — in the loss to zpifer you allowed Qxh3+ / R8f4 tactics after weakening squares. Before pushing pawns, ask: who gets checks? who opens lines toward my king?
• Time management in complicated positions — several games drop to very low clocks. In blitz you want to keep ~10–15s for critical moments; simplify when you’re below threshold (trade when ahead or choose safe developing moves).
• Transition choices — sometimes you exchange into positions where the opponent gets counterplay (active rooks, passed pawns). Before trades, evaluate resulting piece activity and king safety.

Concrete drills & short plan (2 weeks)

• Daily tactics: 15–25 quality puzzles focused on pins, forks and mating patterns (10 min/day). Emphasize short calculation and pattern recognition.
• Back‑rank and basic mate patterns: 5–10 examples per day for one week (back rank mates, smothered, rook lifts). Use the win vs caba1888 as a model — practice bringing rooks to the 7th / 8th ranks: Rook on the seventh.
• Endgame routine: 10 minutes, three times a week — king + rook vs rook basics, Lucena/Philidor ideas — helps convert advantages after tactical exchanges.
• Opening hygiene: pick 1–2 systems to play consistently for the month (keep a simple plan for the Colle and one English setup). Study 4 typical middlegame plans per opening and 2 tactical traps to avoid. See Colle System.
• Blitz checklist drill: play 10 blitz games with the specific rule — when below 20s on clock choose only safe developing moves for the next 5 moves (practice calm decision‑making under time pressure).

Examples from your recent games (quick notes)

• Win vs caba1888 — excellent exploitation of open files: you used Rf7+ and then Re7 to clear and win material, finishing with a back‑rank mate. Study that game with the viewer below to lock in the pattern:
  
• Loss vs zpifer — key moment: Qxh3+ and then R8f4 forced decisive material gains. Before castling or pushing g/pawns, check whether your kingside structure creates holes or allows queen checks.

Quick pre‑game checklist (use this every blitz game)

• Before move 10: is my king safe? (If not, fix it.)
• Do my pawn moves create checks or open files vs my king?
• Who controls the open files? Can I place a rook there next turn?
• If I'm low on clock (<20s), simplify or make safe developing moves.
• Look for tactical shots twice: before and after opponent's candidate move.

Next steps & encouragement

Your overall trend and win rate show you're improving — small targeted work on king safety, time management and a focused opening plan will translate into more consistent results. Play a few training blitz sessions implementing the checklist and the drills above, then review 3 of your games (one win / one loss / one unclear) each week. Keep at it — you're on the right trajectory.

Want a short annotated review of any one of these games (move‑by‑move notes)? Tell me which game (opponent name) and I’ll mark the critical moments.