Sandeep Sethuraman IM

Personalised Feedback for Sandeep “Seth” Sethuraman

Your Current Profile

• Blitz Peak: 2788 (2024-09-10)  • Rapid Peak: 2409 (2025-04-05)
• Activity snapshots:

 

What You’re Doing Well

• Tactical Awareness – The win against reddeath10 shows you spot double-attacks quickly (…Qa5, …Bxb2) and keep the initiative. Your opponents often run short of time because they’re forced to solve problems every move.
• Piece Activity out of the Opening – In both your Nimzo-Indian and Petroff games you develop quickly, castle early and place rooks on open files. This gives you dynamic chances even if the position is objectively equal.
• Nerve in Complicated Positions – You are comfortable playing sharp middlegames (e.g. Closed Sicilian win on 31 May). That courage is a valuable asset in fast time controls.

Key Growth Areas

• King Safety and Prophylaxis
  • Four of your last six losses began with an overdue pawn push or piece lunge after which your king became a long-term target.
  • Habit to build: before every move ask “What is my opponent’s next threat?” – classic prophylaxis.
• Conversion Once Ahead
  • Example: against BSWPaulsen you were a pawn up and still the first to resign because the pieces lacked coordination.
  • Try the “two-step rule”: first improve your worst-placed piece, then search for tactics.
• End-game Technique
  • You reached several rook endgames but missed favourable simplifications. Reviewing fundamental rook endings (Philidor, Lucena, “Vancura”) for 15 minutes a day will pay huge dividends.
• Time Management
  • Even in your wins you often dipped below 20 seconds by move 25. Consider a few rapid (15|10) sessions each week to practise deeper calculation without the clock panic.

Opening Rim-Checking

Repertoire	Keep	Tune-up ideas
Nimzo-Indian (Black)	✔ Sharp and suits your style.	Add a solid fallback versus 4.Qc2 systems to avoid early …Bxc3 if you want a quieter game.
Semi-Slav / Anti-Meran (White)	✔ The pawn sacrifice with b4 is thematic.	Review model games where White meets …e5 with dxe5; in your loss to karthikeyan pandian the centre collapsed too quickly.
Caro-Kann Gurgenidze (Black)	⚠ Fun but double-edged.	If you keep it, memorise the main Ng5/Bc4 line up to move 12; otherwise consider the more forgiving Classical with …Bf5.

Illustrative Moments

Tactic that worked (vs RedDeath10):

You combined piece activity with a pawn lever to maintain the extra pawn and central control.

Tactic that slipped (vs BSWPaulsen):

31…Rxd3! first would have kept both attack and material. Train “forcing-move scanning” before committing to a plan.

Suggested 4-Week Plan

1. Week 1 – Daily 30 min of mixed tactics at 2600-2700 rating; annotate two of your own blitz games without an engine.
2. Week 2 – Play three rapid games; after each, build a mini “opening file” with the critical positions you faced.
3. Week 3 – End-game boot camp: 20 rook-vs-pawn-ending drills; revisit the games you lost on move 35+ and try to win from the losing side.
4. Week 4 – Record a voice note after every blitz session focusing on time-management decisions. This meta-review helps transfer insight to future games.

Motivational Snapshot

“Improvement is mostly about reducing the number of bad moves, not finding brilliancies.”

Keep nurturing your fearless style, Sandeep, and blend it with a few extra layers of safety net. Good luck over the board!