Dirk van Dooren FM

Hi Dirk!

Congrats on maintaining a strong ~2420 blitz rating (2566 (2025-01-08)). Your recent streak of wins against high-rated opponents (e.g. Hui Li, elgcc) shows excellent attacking instincts. Below is a focused review of your current game, followed by an action plan.

What’s working well

• Opening initiative. With 1.e4 and sharp lines such as the King’s Gambit and Scotch, you frequently seize the centre and dictate early play.
• Tactical alertness. Your 17.d6! and 22.Re7! in the Falkbeer win created continuous threats that never let Black breathe.
• Conversion when ahead. In several wins you simplified to favorable rook-endgames and finished cleanly (e.g. vs. vmsvk).

Key growth areas

• Clock management. Four of your last six losses were on time.
  may reveal when fatigue hurts your pace.
• Handling counter-punches. Games against the Modern and Dutch show that after pushing f- and g-pawns you sometimes miss opposing breaks …d5 / …f5. This leaves weak dark squares and targets for pieces like …Be6-d5.
• Technical rook endings. The loss to jafarov-rasul_2009 slipped from a drawn R+P vs R ending because the winning side advanced pawns more efficiently. Review basic plans such as the bridge-building (Lucena) and the long-side defense.
• Critical calculation depth. In the CuteSunnyBelief game 18…Qd6 set a tactical trap that won material and the game. Slowing down at tension moments should cut these oversights.

Training recommendations

1. Structured time use
   • Allocate a minimum 30 s reserve for every 15 moves.
   • Practise 3 + 2 or 5 + 0 sessions exclusively for one week to ingrain rhythm.
   • Replay each timeout loss and note the move where you dipped below 10 s.
2. Endgame tune-up
   • Daily 10-minute drill on rook endings (Chess.com’s “Rook & Pawn” thematic puzzles).
   • Recreate the final position vs. Jafarov-Rasul and try holding as Black against the engine.
3. Mid-game prophylaxis
   • After every pawn thrust (f4, g4, c4, …), ask “What does my opponent gain?” — a simple blunder-check routine.
   • Annotate three of your own games this week focusing only on opponent possibilities.
4. Deep opening repair
   • Build a concise file on the Modern (B06) and Dutch Hopton (A80) with: critical tabiya → main traps → safe equalising plan.
   • For each unfamiliar position, play at least five 10-min sparring games versus the engine from the tabiya.

Quick reference: last decisive games

When should you play?

Review the heat-map below; your performance early in the day is markedly higher.

Keep harnessing your attacking flair, Dirk, but add a layer of discipline in time and defense. That balance should take you well past 2450.