Coach Chesswick
Hi DoctorMove!
Congratulations on rising to about 2092 (2019-03-02) and playing sharp, fighting chess. Below is personalised feedback drawn from your latest games.
1. Quick snapshot
- Your preferred time-controls are 5 | 0 and 10 | 0. You win a healthy share of games, yet over 40 % of recent losses come from the clock.
- Style: dynamic, tactical, willing to play …g-pawn thrusts and accept material imbalances.
- Favourite structures: QGD-Tartakower as Black, English/Catalan-type setups as White.
2. Strengths to keep nurturing
- Tactical awareness. You often spot resourceful moves such as 23…Nce3! in your win against starman480:
- Piece activity. When the position opens you rarely leave pieces idle; see the KGA game where you doubled rooks on the e-file and later switched them to the kingside.
- Psychological resilience. You don’t shy away from accepting pawn sacrifices or grabbing the initiative early.
3. Main improvement themes
- Time management – your biggest single leak.
• Enter critical positions (complex tactics, endgames) with at least 30 % of the initial time left.
• Use “zero-second checks”: after choosing a move, spend two extra seconds asking “what can my opponent reply?”.
• Practise increment games (3 | 2 or 5 | 3) once a day; the habit of making quicker “obvious” moves will transfer to 5 | 0. - King-side pawn pushes – watch the Berlin with …g5 that back-fired:
Ask yourself before each pawn move: “Does this create weak squares my opponent can occupy?” In the diagram above the h- and f-squares collapsed. - Conversion technique – you reach winning rook-or-minor-piece endings but sometimes rush.
• In your English win you were two pawns up yet needed a resignation rather than clear technique.
• Revisit Capablanca basic rook endgames. Set a bot to depth-15 and practise converting R+2 pawns vs R. - Opening housekeeping
- Against 1.e4 your early …Bc5 line (C65) is playable, but know the safer alternatives (3…a6 or the solid Berlin 3…Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4).
- White repertoire: you often transpose to isolated-queen-pawn positions after 1.d4/1.c4. Study three classical model games for each side so you recognise the standard plans (minor-piece exchanges, zwischenzug tactics on e6/c6).
4. Action plan for the next month
- Week 1 – Time-control discipline
Play 15 games of 3 | 2. Goal: finish every game with >10 s on your clock. - Week 2 – Secure king before pawn storms
Review all losses where you played …g5/g4 or g5/g4 as White. Annotate the squares that became weak. - Week 3 – Endgame drill
Solve 30 rook-and-pawn studies; then replay them vs a computer from the critical moment. - Week 4 – Opening refresh
Build a three-line “cheat sheet” for each of your Black defences vs 1.e4 and 1.d4. Include typical middlegame plans, not just moves.
5. Motivation corner
You are already out-calculating strong 1900-level opponents. By patching the time-management hole and adding a dose of positional patience, a 2100+ blitz rating is realistic in the coming season. Keep the pieces mobile, safeguard your king, and enjoy the climb!
Good luck and good chess,
Your coach 🤖