Coach Chesswick
Hi Elvira, here’s some tailored feedback to help you keep climbing!
What you’re doing very well
- Dynamic Piece Play. In your recent win against ali shahibzadegan, the sequence 11.Nf5! followed by 18.fxg6+ seized the initiative and never let go. Your willingness to calculate sharp lines is a big asset.
- Central Control from the Opening. Whether you play 1.d4 or steer the Sicilian as Black, you consistently claim space and keep your pieces active.
- Peak level. Your best blitz mark so far is 2556 (2021-05-28). Maintaining that level shows both technical skill and fighting spirit.
Key areas to focus on next
-
Time management ("Zeitnot").
• Five of your last six losses ended on the clock.
• Typical pattern: solid early play, then long thinks around move 18–25, followed by a scramble.
Action plan: Use a “traffic-light” system—aim to keep ≥40 s after move 15, ≥20 s after move 25, and never drop below 5 s without increment unless it is a forced win. -
End-game conversion.
• In the Slav loss to TheKingOfTheForest you reached an equal rook/knight ending but drifted when pawns started to fall.
Action plan: Add 10-minute daily drills on technical rook endings (e.g. Lucena, Philidor) so that practical decisions come faster under time pressure. -
Consistent opening menu.
• Recent games show a mix of ...g6 Modern, ...c6 Slav, and Najdorf setups. Flexibility is great, but in 60-second games repetition breeds speed.
Action plan: Pick one main defence to 1.e4 and one to 1.d4 for the next 50 games. Review only the tabiyas you actually reach; shave prep time, gain clock time.
Micro-adjustments from specific games
| Game | Moment | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Win vs PhysioTherapist | 7.h3?! | Develop with 7.Nc3 or 7.c4 to punish the Englund’s tempo loss even faster. |
| Loss vs TheKingOfTheForest | 20…Qd5?! | Instead 20…Nxe5! 21.dxe5 Qxd3 equalises and simplifies into a no-risk ending. |
| Loss vs TheArcticCold | 15…Nh6 | Consider 15…h6 first; keeping …Nh5 ideas later avoids the awkward knight. |
When you score best
Use these to schedule sessions at your personal “golden hours.”
Drill set for the week
- 5 rapid games (10 + 0) focusing solely on clock discipline—annotate lost minutes.
- Daily 20-puzzle streak; stop after the first mistake and review calculation shortcuts.
- One thematic blitz session from the Najdorf "…e5" tabiya to build muscle memory.
Keep up the fighting spirit and let me know how these tweaks work out. Good luck in your next push beyond 2556 (2021-05-28)!