Ivo Maris FM

Hi Ivo (Er_is_geen_hoop_meer)!

Congratulations on steadily keeping your Daily rating near 1700 and peaking at 2103 (2021-01-20). Your overall graph (

What you already do well

• Fighting spirit: In many wins you play on in messy positions (e.g. vs tinatonzky) and eventually convert in long end-games – a valuable competitive skill.
• Tactical alertness with Black: In your Sicilian & Caro-Kann games you spot motif after motif (…Nc4-e3, …Nxf4, rook lifts). Your eye for forks and discovered attacks produces a healthy tactics-per-game score.
• Handling opposite-side pawn storms: The Kings-Indian win shows good understanding of pawn lever timing and piece placement behind the pawns.

Key improvement themes

1. Opening selection & repetition

As White, over 65 % of your games begin with 1.b4. While the Polish is a fun surprise weapon, the recent trio of losses in the same line suggests opponents at your level are ready. • Keep 1.b4 in the repertoire, but add a mainstream system (e.g. the Queen’s Gambit or the Italian) so you rehearse classical centre and tempo concepts that the Polish often skips.
• When you do play 1.b4, study the critical …e5 and …d5 replies; your setbacks vs SlowJello and jescuderoma came after missing thematic central counter-blows.

2. Early pawn pushes & king safety

In several defeats you advanced f, g and h-pawns before castling (examples: losses vs modoahmed, AnonymousCrackhead). This created dark-square holes and targets for opponent pieces. Adopt a simple yard-stick: “No more than two wing-pawn moves before move 10 unless I am already castled.”

3. Piece activity over material grabbing

Twice you captured loose pawns (e.g. 9 Qxg7 vs SlowJello) only to lose tempi and fall behind in development. Before taking something, ask the 3-step check: ① What will my opponent reply? ② Is my king safe after the sequence? ③ Will the captured pawn still matter 10 moves later?

4. Converting end-game advantages

In the win vs tinatonzky you reached a technically won rook-and-pawn ending but needed 20 extra moves. Sharpen your technique by practising basic rook endings: Lucena, Philidor, and the “V-cut” method of checking from behind. A quicker conversion will free mental energy for earlier phases.

5. Chess960 awareness

Your Chess960 loss shows hesitation in unfamiliar piece layouts. Start each game with the checklist “castle rights, centre control, piece coordination.” Spend the first two moves ensuring minor pieces don’t block rooks – this alone will cut early blunders.

Training plan (6-week micro-cycle)

1. Week 1–2: Choose a new main-line White opening. Watch one video & create a mini-file of 10 anchor lines – rehearse daily.
2. Week 3: Tactics bootcamp – 30 mins/day on intermediate themes (zwischenzug, clearance, deflection). Track progress in
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3. Week 4: End-game focus: solve 20 rook-and-pawn studies, then replay the final 20 moves of your win vs tinatonzky until you can mate in under 15 moves.
4. Week 5: Play 10 Chess960 rapid games, applying the early-development checklist.
5. Week 6: Review every loss of the month and annotate one critical decision per game – the pattern recognition exercise is more valuable than engine lines.

Quick reference cheatsheet

• Green light moves: Develop a new piece, castle, central pawn one square.
• Amber moves: Repeat an already-developed piece, side-pawn advance – need concrete reason.
• Red moves: Move same wing pawn twice, grab “free” pawn while undeveloped, leave king in centre > move 10.

Keep enjoying the game, Ivo, and remember: steady incremental tweaks beat massive overhauls. Next time we meet I’d love to see a crisp miniature starting with 1.d4 or 1.e4 and ending with a textbook zugzwang!