Derwin Sanchez

Personalised Feedback for Derwin Sanchez (dsan1099)

1. Big-picture assessment

• Current trajectory: Your rapid climb from the mid-1600s to the high-180s shows solid progress. Your best blitz peak so far is 403 (2024-10-16).
• Style: You favour initiative-driven openings (early queen raids, pawn storms) and are comfortable in sharp, tactical positions.
• Main risks: King safety and time management. Four of your last six losses were either checkmates against an exposed king or time forfeits in won/ equal positions.

2. Strengths to keep building on

• Tactical vision: You often spot winning blows such as 14.Nxc7# (see diagram below). This is a real asset once coupled with tighter defence.
• Practical fighting spirit: Even in inferior positions you keep posing problems and frequently turn games around when opponents drift on the clock.
• Piece activity focus: Many of your victories come from rapid mobilisation (early Bf4/Bg5 ideas, rook lifts). Keep that, but anchor it in sound structure.

3. Priority fix-ups

1. King safety & early pawn pushes
   Loss vs. FujiTrisna21: ...g6, ...f6, ...a5 left dark-square holes and the king stuck in the centre. Against stronger rivals this gets punished every time.
   Action: Until 1200-1400 ELO it is acceptable to wing it; above 1600 you must castle by move 8-10 in 90 % of games. Add a self-check: “Am I castled? If not, is the centre completely closed?”.
2. Opening hygiene
   1.d4 e5 2.e4? and 1.e4 d5 3.Qe2⁺ are fun but objectively dubious. Against 2000+ you will start each game slightly worse.
   Action: Narrow your repertoire to two clean systems:
   • As White: the London System (d4-Nf3-Bf4) – solid, zero theory, keeps your attacking style.
   • As Black: the Scandinavian 2…Qxd5 vs 1.e4 (you already use it) and the Queen’s Gambit Declined vs 1.d4.
   Study 5 model games each; try to reproduce moves blindfold, then test in blitz.
3. Time management
   You flagged in a won rook ending (vs bighomiesatan) with +6 evaluation. Your average “seconds left on move 25” is under 20 in lost games.
   Action: a) Play two 10 | 5 rapid games for every five blitz games. b) Use a “move-pair checkpoint”: after moves 10, 20 and 30 glance at the clock; if under 1 min, switch to instant-move-unless-forced mode.

4. Concrete examples

Good tactical conversion (memorise the pattern):

Typical problem position (work out improvements with a board):

5. Training plan (next 4 weeks)

• ⏰ Week 1: 30 tactical puzzles/day filtered for “Mate in 2-3”; annotate solutions in a notebook.
• 📘 Week 2: Study 5 classical London & 5 Scandinavian games (cap at 30 moves). Focus on piece placement before tactics.
• ♟️ Week 3: Endgame basics: king + pawn vs king; rook endings “Lucena” & “Philidor”. Play 10 unrated 15 | 10 games where you must trade into a rook endgame.
• 📊 Week 4: Review all blitz losses. For each, write one sentence: “I lost because…”. Spot the top repeat cause and fix it.

6. Measure your progress

• Hour-by-hour performance:

7. Quick glossary

• Tempo – a “move-turn”; saving tempi is why early queen excursions hurt.
• Zwischenzug – an in-between move; mastering these will convert your tactical vision into forceful wins.

Good luck, Derwin! Stick to the plan, and the 2000 barrier will come sooner than you think.