Coach Chesswick
Hi Disha, here’s some constructive feedback based on your recent games
✅ What you’re doing well
- Initiative-seeking play: You willingly push pawns (f- and g-pawns) to open lines and create attacking chances. Your win with 15.f5 followed by Bh6! showed good tactical alertness.
- Piece activity: In many Sicilian positions you quickly put rooks on open files (e.g. 23.Rxf5! and 25.Rd4) and coordinate them well in the late middlegame.
- Fighting spirit: Even with seconds left you keep looking for forcing continuations and often win on time in worse positions—evidence of tenacity and practical skills.
🚧 Biggest improvement areas
- Time-management: Six of the last ten results (both wins & losses) were decided on the clock. Try a “move-pair budget” – aim to be above 40 s on move 10, 25 s on move 20, etc. Blitz out the first book moves, spend the saved time in critical middlegame spots.
- Opening depth with Black vs 1.e4:
- Against the Italian Two Knights (4.Ng5, 5.exd5) you enter sharp sidelines without knowing the theory and get mated quickly. Review mainline solutions such as 5…Na5 (Ulvestad) or the solid 5…b5 variations.
- In “Traxler” positions you allowed 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Bd5 etc. – a line that is objectively dangerous for Black. Consider switching to 4…Bc5 only after studying the critical ideas, or pick the quieter 4…Be7.
- King safety on both sides: Several fast defeats came from leaving your king in the centre (…Ke7 on move 9) or castling late as White. Make “king safety” an explicit checkpoint before every forcing sequence.
- Calculating forcing lines: Tactics decided almost every game. Daily 10-minute sessions on a puzzle trainer will pay huge dividends. Look up the concept of Zwischenzug.
Practical recommendations for the next two weeks
- Opening tune-up: Build a mini-repertoire file with the first 12 moves you want against (a) the Italian & (b) the Open Sicilian. Drill it with “flash-cards” until you can play it in under 30 s.
- Endgame basics twice a week: Rook + pawn vs rook endings cost you half-points on the clock. Spend 20 minutes with the Lucena and Philidor positions; they recur constantly.
- Structured thinking: Before every move ask the 3-question checklist: 1) What are the threats? 2) Which of my pieces are inactive? 3) Where is the king’s safety weakest?
- Longer games: Add at least two 10 | 5 games per week; they slow the pace and let you practise calculation without the constant time scramble.
Your current milestones
Peak rapid rating: 1403 (2020-09-18) – let’s aim to add +100 in the next month by fixing the above points.
When do you play best?
Check your personal graphs for insight:
Instructive moment to review
Compare the same opening handled on a win vs a loss. Notice how early king safety and tempi shaped the outcome.
Try replaying the PGN and pausing after move 8 as Black: can you improve with …d5!?
Next step
Play a training match against a sparring partner around your level, e.g. jayesh mishra, but with 10 | 5 time-control and post-game analysis together.
Good luck, and keep enjoying the journey!