Enrica Zito WFM

Hi Enrica, here’s a personalized performance review based on your latest blitz sessions.

What you’re already doing very well

• Active, principled openings: In both wins and losses you consistently grab space with 1.e4 and meet it with dynamic systems as Black (mostly Sicilians). Your move-orders are theory-sound up to move 10–12 in the majority of games—an important foundation at the 2300+ level.
• Tactical alertness: The victories over evergreen_elephant and rahul_narayanan show sharp combinations such as …Nb4-c2+ and …Qd3+ leading directly to mating nets. These examples confirm you calculate quickly and are not afraid to convert with forcing lines.
• Pressure management in equal endgames: When the position simplifies you frequently switch to practical winning tries instead of “agreeing” to a draw. The subtle rook manoeuvre in 37.b8=Q Bxa7 38.Qxa7 (vs respect444) is a good illustration.
• Peak performance window: Your hourly win-rate spikes between 14:30–15:30 UTC – keep building your session routine around that! (
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Recurring improvement themes

1. Time management in complicated middlegames
   • Three of your four latest losses ended with <10 seconds on your clock.
   • Practical tip: set a firm “no-think” quota for the first 15 moves (≈5 sec per move) to save 30-40 sec for the late middlegame scramble.
2. King-safety when you go all-in on the kingside
   Example (loss vs kreismyr – Caro-Kann Exchange): after 17.Nh7?! you sacrificed a knight but didn’t have pieces to keep the attack going, leaving your own king stuck in the centre.
   • Before launching pawn storms ask “How many attackers vs defenders?” – if <3 attackers, reinforce first.
   • Study model games in the Keres Attack and Sveshnikov to see balanced piece/pawn counts.
3. Structural decisions in c3 Sicilians and French-type setups
   • In the loss to elmartndebaha you exchanged on d4 and soon drifted into a worse endgame with an isolated e-pawn.
   • Drill the typical pawn breaks …d6–d5 and …f6 in thematic puzzles; they convert space into activity without loosening the queenside.
4. Endgame conversion vs stubborn defence
   • Against Evergreen_Elephant you needed 70+ moves to convert a winning rook + extra pawn ending.
   • Goal: cut that in half by rehearsing basic winning techniques (Lucena, Philidor) under <10 sec time handicap. A weekly 15-minute drill on rook + pawn vs rook will pay immediate dividends.

Concrete micro-goals for the next 30 games

Spotlight game

Review this phase with an engine and ask “Which safe improvement keeps the tension?”

Your current peak stats

Blitz peak: 2387 (2025-05-26)
Rapid peak: 2040 (2025-02-08)

Next steps

• Integrate 10-minute pattern recognition warm-ups (mates in 2, tactical shots) before each playing session.
• Play at least five games with a fixed queen’s-pawn repertoire as Black (e.g. Slav or QGD) to expand beyond the Sicilian/Caro - Kann comfort zone.
• Analyse one of your losses daily, annotating only the turning point move—this keeps study sessions focused and time-efficient.

Keep enjoying the grind and see you at the next milestone—2400 blitz!