Eddie Meduza IM

Quick recap

You played a clean, sharp blitz game vs. Ilya Gutkin where you built a stable center, opened lines on the kingside and exploited tactical shots to force a resignation. Your timing, piece activity and willingness to simplify into a winning end of sequence were the highlights.

What you did well

• Active piece play — you mobilized pieces toward the kingside and used a rook lift and rook on the f-file effectively to increase pressure.
• Creating and exploiting open lines — the decision to open the position and trade into a position with decisive tactics (queen invasion on f7, knight forks) showed good practical sense in blitz.
• Tactical awareness — you spotted the forcing sequence that won material and didn’t panic when the position got sharp (good calculation and follow-up).
• Time use under blitz — you kept the clock in a reasonable state and converted the advantage without getting into severe time trouble.

Key areas to improve

• Calculation depth in the opening middlegame — a few moves earlier you could gain a clearer edge by checking a couple of extra candidate moves (practice quick verification of checks/captures/threats).
• Pattern recognition for common sacrifices — you played well when tactics were on the board, but increasing familiarity with typical sacrificial motifs (knight sac to open a king, clearance/deflection motifs) will help win more quickly.
• Transition play — sometimes you simplified immediately; make sure simplification is to a clearly winning endgame or eliminates counterplay. Ask: does trading reduce opponent's counter-chances?
• Opening consistency in blitz — sharpen a few go-to setups so your first 10–12 moves are fast and reliable (reduces pre-move/instant-response errors).

Concrete drills (daily/weekly)

• Daily tactics: 20–30 short blitz puzzles focusing on forks, pins, discovered attacks and decoy/deflection motifs.
• Attack patterns: 10 positions per session where you practise converting a kingside assault (sacrifices to open files, back-rank threats, removing key defenders).
• 3 × 10-minute sessions per week: play rapid (10+0 or 3+2) and review one critical loss to find the turning point.
• Endgame basics: 15 minutes twice a week — rook endgames and basic king + pawn vs king conversions to avoid over-trading.
• Blitz opening reps: pick 2 reliable systems and play 10 training games each week to ingrain typical plans and move orders.

Opening notes — focus areas

Your opening repertoire shows clear strengths. Targeted refinement will convert those opening advantages into easier wins.

• Reinforce lines you already score well with: Neo-Gruenfeld: and Queen's. Know the typical pawn breaks and piece redeployments.
• Against the Sicilian (Najdorf lines) keep tactical motifs in mind — quick pawn breaks and knight outposts are key: Sicilian.
• Study the early middlegame plans from the Indian (that came up in your most recent win) so you can convert small advantages faster.

Game replay & moment to analyze

Replay the full game and pause on the critical sequence around the kingside break and queen invasion — that’s where you converted tactical play into a decisive advantage.

• Full game (interactive):

Next steps (this week)

• Run 3 tactic sessions (10–15 minutes) focused on sacrificial motifs and forks.
• Play 6 blitz games using only two openings you want to perfect; review the two games you lost and note the decisive error.
• Spend one study session going through the PGN above and annotate the turning point — was there a quieter winning continuation earlier?

Coach’s quick checklist

• 1. Are you trading when it reduces opponent counterplay?
• 2. Did you verify all opponent captures before launching a tactic?
• 3. Is the plan consistent with your opening pawn structure?
• 4. Do you have a routine to warm up tactics before blitz sessions?

Want a follow-up?

If you want, send me 1–2 loss games or a short clip of a critical position and I’ll give line-by-line notes and 3 drills tailored to the exact mistakes.