Coach Chesswick
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
- 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. - 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. - 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. - 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
View PGNs
Latest win
Latest loss
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.