Erik van den Dikkenberg FM

Feedback for Erik van den Dikkenberg

Great job keeping your Blitz rating near 2397 (2024-08-06) and competing regularly! Your recent win against a 2033-rated opponent (Qg8#) shows that your tactical eye is sharp and your fighting spirit is intact.

What you already do well

• Tactical alertness. Your victories frequently end with direct mating attacks (e.g. 32.Bf6+! in the game vs shirovin). You spot tactical patterns quickly and convert them with confidence.
• Piece activity from the opening. Whether you choose the French Advance as White or the Najdorf as Black, you aim for the initiative instead of passive play.
• Practical decision-making in time trouble. You often find resourceful moves when you are under 10 seconds, suggesting good intuition.
• Willingness to enter sharp, double-edged positions. This is essential at Blitz and serves you well against lower-rated opponents.

Priorities for the next training block

1. King safety & prophylaxis.
   • Several losses start with early pawn pushes on the flank (…g5, …b5) before your king is truly safe. • Example: in the East-Indian loss to mary-sanna, you delayed …h6/…Nh5 and allowed Nxf6 forks.
   🔹 Action: Before expanding, ask “What are my opponent’s next three forcing moves?” and add one protective move if needed (…h6, …a6, Kf8, etc.). Studying classic games in the Najdorf with an eye on …h6/Bd7/Kf8 plans will help.
2. Time management in critical middlegames.
   • In four of your recent defeats you reached <10 seconds with 15+ moves left, and blundered right afterwards.
   🔹 Action: Use a simple heuristic: by move 15 you should still have ≥60 % of the starting time. If you’re below that, simplify or trade queens to ease calculation load.
   
3. Handling opposite-side castling in the Najdorf.
   • Games vs Nimmy-A-George and Javylavilla show difficulty when White sacs on e6 or d5.
   🔹 Action: Add the Najdorf “Poisoned-Pawn Lite” line (6…e6 7. f4 …Be7) to slow White’s attack and keep the dark-squared bishop for defence. Create a personal file of 10 GM model games and replay them with “guess the move”.
4. Endgame conversion & defence.
   • The Benko game vs pawn0209 reached an equal rook-and-minor-piece endgame, yet slipped away after 41…Kxa5?
   🔹 Action: Spend 15 minutes daily on technical rook endgames (Philidor, Lucena, & “rook behind passed pawn”). Use Practice vs Computer mode with increasing depth.
5. Simplify the Black repertoire vs 1.d4.
   • You alternate between Benko, East-Indian structures and even …c5+e6 schemes. This invites preparation from strong opponents.
   🔹 Action: Choose one main system you truly like (e.g. the Benko or a solid Hedgehog with …c5/…e6) and learn the typical pawn breaks & manoeuvres in depth.

Micro-targets for the next 30 days

• Play 50 blitz games where you castle before move 10 in every game.
• Review each loss for one critical moment and write a one-sentence takeaway; no engines until after you’ve annotated.
• Solve 100 intermediate-level puzzles that feature defensive resources (filters: “saving move”, “zwischenzug”).
• Finish each session by replaying one model endgame with the side you will commonly have (e.g. rook vs pawn).

Reference games to revisit

Consistent review and targeted practice will translate your evident tactical flair into steadier results against masters. Good luck, and keep enjoying the game!