Coach Chesswick
Hi David! đź‘‹ Here is your personalised post-tournament review
Quick Stats
Peak blitz rating: 2838 (2020-05-06)
When you score best:
| Best weekday:What you are already doing well
- Tactical alertness. In your win vs Rasmus Svane you spotted 22.Nxe4!!, liquidated Black’s centre and then wrapped things up with the neat sequence 27.Ne6 hxg4 28.Nxf4! .
- Opening variety. You handle both 1.e4 and 1.d4 positions and can switch between the Caro-Kann, French and Sicilian as Black, keeping opponents guessing.
- Willingness to fight on. Several wins came from holding slightly worse positions and turning the tables when the opponent came under time pressure.
Most common trouble spots
- Clock control. Four of your last five losses were decided by the clock or in ≤10 s. Even in wins you often dipped below 15 s with a complex position on the board.
➜ Fix: train “hand-speed” by playing a set of 20 bullet games only to practice premove patterns, then analyse the first 10 moves of each game for blunders. Add a 5-minute daily session ofWoodpecker
-style tactic reps to improve instant pattern recall. - Drifting in equal endgames. Loss vs Vignesh N.R shows a level, simplified position on move 30 but you were pushed back and lost after 60…Bd2+. Your rook-and-pawn technique is solid, yet you occasionally miss counter-play ideas such as activating the king early.
➜ Fix: solve three practical rook-endgame studies every training day and play “rook-endgame only” sparring positions vs an engine set to 2300. - In-game reflection. Two early-queen raids (e.g. 11.Qxa7 against the Caro-Kann) netted a pawn but cost you tempi and harmony. Against precise defence (see loss to Ido Gorshtein) the initiative evaporated.
➜ Fix: add a “sanity check” to your candidate-move routine: “Does this move improve my worst piece or create a new weakness?” Force yourself to reject at least one tempting but risky line each game to build discipline. - Opening depth vs. elite blitzers. In the Alapin loss Black equalised by move 12 thanks to …Qxd1. Your current lines are healthy but occasionally superficial.
âžś Fix: build one model game tree per opening this week. For each critical branch add: key ideas, common traps, typical endgame. Review the tree before each session until you can recite the main line without boards.
Concrete training plan (next 14 days)
| Focus | Daily workload |
|---|---|
| Tactics speed | 40 puzzles <30 s each (goal ≥85 % accuracy) |
| Endgame drill | 15 min rook-and-pawn sparring vs engine |
| Opening file | Re-play one annotated GM game in your chosen line; update tree |
| Self-review | Pick one loss, tag the exact move where the evaluation flipped and write a one-sentence lesson learned |
Key concepts to revisit
• Tempo
• Prophylaxis
• Zugzwang
Final thought
You are already playing at an impressive level; most of the remaining rating points lie in polishing time-management habits and deepening a few critical opening positions. See you at the next session—looking forward to celebrating your new peak!