Denis Makhnev GM

Overall Performance Review

Denis, your recent blitz games show a solid level of play with a strength adjusted win rate of about 50.5%, indicating you are holding your own consistently against strong opposition. Your rating has improved notably by 55 points in the last month, and your positive trends over three and six months suggest steady growth and improvement, which is very encouraging.

What You're Doing Well

• Strong Opening Knowledge: You have displayed good familiarity with a variety of openings like the Queens Gambit Declined Exchange Variation, Indian Game East Indian Przepiorka Variation, and the Ruy Lopez. This variety gives you a flexible approach and prepares you well for diverse opponents.
• Endgame Technique: Several games ended with you converting endgame advantages or winning on time, indicating strong fundamentals and good resource management under pressure.
• Consistent Improvement: Rating gains and positive rating trend slopes show your focused training and competitive efforts are paying off. Keep maintaining this momentum!

Areas to Focus on for Continued Growth

• Midgame Tactical Awareness: In losses, critical moments such as exchanges and piece activity allowed opponents to seize initiative. Reviewing tactical patterns and sharpening calculation under time pressure could enhance your resilience.
• Time Management: Some games showed a tendency to run low on time in complex positions. Practicing steady, comfortable pacing can help avoid rushed decisions when the clock is ticking down.
• Opening Depth: While your opening repertoire is sound, deepening your understanding of typical middlegame plans and tactical motifs arising from your favored openings can bring further edge in the opening to middle transition.

Recommendations

• Analyze your recent losses more deeply, especially where opponents capitalized on your middlegame inaccuracies—this can help identify recurring mistakes or weak spots.
• Study annotated model games in your preferred openings and practice typical tactical exercises related to those lines to boost calculation and pattern recognition.
• Continue playing blitz but balance it with some rapid or classical games to practice strategic thinking with more time, strengthening your overall play.
• Use online tools or coaches to simulate time pressure scenarios to improve your time management skills during blitz matches.

Keep Up the Great Work!

Your upward rating trend and competitive results speak volumes. Focused training on key areas mentioned above will help you climb even higher. Enjoy your chess journey and keep sharpening both your strategic vision and tactical alertness!