Coach Chesswick
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
-
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?”. -
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. -
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:
• Which day you score best:
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.