Dominika Ferkova WFM

Hi Dominika!

Great job maintaining a high level around 2208 (2020-08-16)—your recent win over jaroslavek shows you can out-play 2100–2300 opposition consistently. Below is a focused training plan drawn from your latest games.

1. Time Management (highest impact)

• You lost four of the last seven defeats simply by running out of time while the position was still playable or even better (e.g. vs GuideinHolland2 and Chvrsi17). Try the “40-20-20 rule”: spend roughly 40 % of your clock on the opening + early middlegame, 20 % on the late middlegame, leaving 20 % for endgames and time-scrambles.
• Adopt a one-look “trigger” for critical moves—if your opponent makes a forcing check, capture or threat, immediately spend 5-10 s to update your candidate list before premoving.
• Practise bullet with a 0 + 1 increment once or twice a week; it trains fast, high-quality premoves without hurting your classical calculation habits.
• Use the move-confirmation feature only in long games; disabling it in 3 + 2 / 5 + 0 formats saves ~3-4 s per game.

2. Opening Refinement

Your repertoire is fundamentally sound—Queen’s Gambit/Nimzo structures as White and classical replies to 1.d4 as Black—but a few tweaks will add bite.

3. Middlegame Themes

• Dark-square strategy: Several games feature …Nb4, …Nd3 or …Nc4 jumps (you used it vs Chvrsi17 and jaroslavek). Study the classic Minor-piece invasion chapter in Outpost strategy—then build training positions in Chess.com’s “Custom” drills.
• Pawn levers: You excel at thematic breaks (…e5 in Queen’s Gambit, …c5 against KIA). Extend this to White games—look for e4/e5 pushes in your own London and Colle setups sooner.
• Conversion with opposite-coloured bishops: The April-16 win vs jeser_albarracin43 showed good technique; replicate by remembering “push the king first, pass pawn second”.

4. Tactical Clean-up

Most of your blunders occurred with ≤15 s on the clock. Still, set aside 15 min daily for “Three-strike” drills (miss three tactics → stop). Emphasise:

1. Bishop x Knight forks (cost you material vs GuideinHolland2 at move 35).
2. Back-rank motifs—your 30…Qa1+ in the recent win was perfect; keep spotting these instantly.

5. Endgame Polish

• Revise the “Lucena” and “Philidor” rook endings; you flagged twice in theoretically drawn R+P vs R positions.
• Practise converting extra pawns with 30 s on the clock using the “Winning Techniques” module in Puzzle Rush Survival.

6. Tracking Progress

Keep an eye on when you play best:

7. Quick Homework

1. Annotate your entire game against GuideinHolland2. Pay special attention to 27…e5–32…exf4 where the position flipped.
2. Play two 15 + 10 games this week, focusing on the improved Nimzo Samisch line.
3. Solve 25 tactics rated 2400–2600; aim for ≥80 % accuracy.

Consistency plus a few minutes saved each game should push you toward 2300+ permanently. Keep up the good work, and enjoy the climb!

For reference, here is your latest victory’s complete score: