Coach Chesswick
Flo Bst – Personal Feedback & Growth Plan
👍 What You Already Do Well
- Active Openings: You often seize space quickly (e.g. 1.e4/1.d4 followed by c4 or f-pawn thrusts). This keeps opponents on the back foot.
- Tactical Eye: Several wins came from spot-on tactics, such as 41…Qg1# against paulcorkery and 30…Qb3# versus hadrien_rmd. Your willingness to calculate sharp lines is a strength.
- Fighting Spirit: Even when slightly worse you keep posing problems and play for mates or perpetuals rather than resigning early.
- Practical Time Usage: In Daily games you use the clock instead of blitzing out moves, a good habit for deeper calculation.
🔍 Biggest Improvement Targets
- Early King Safety & Development
• In several losses you delayed castling or moved the king repeatedly (e.g. 11…Ke7/13…Ke6 vs. hadrien_rmd). Castle by move 10 in 90 % of your games.
• Avoid pawn moves like …f6/…h6 in the opening unless strictly necessary; they weaken dark squares. - Pawn-Structure Discipline
• Premature captures (e.g. 3…dxe4 4.Bxe4 in your French loss) ceded the centre.
• Before pushing flank pawns ask: “Will this create a target or open lines toward my own king?” - Calculation Method
• Good tactics appear, but missed defensive resources cost games. Adopt a CCT routine (Check–Capture–Threat) on every move and search one move deeper than you think you need. - Endgame Fundamentals
• Losing a queen-vs-king ending to 1.Qb2# (game vs. mybedpillow) shows a need for basic K+Q vs K technique and opposition concepts. Ten minutes of drill per day fixes this quickly. - Consolidated Repertoire
• Sampling many openings is great for learning, but choose one main reply to 1.e4 (suggestion: Caro-Kann) and one to 1.d4 (suggestion: Queen’s Gambit Declined). Familiarity breeds confidence.
📅 4-Week Action Plan
| Week | Primary Focus | Daily Task (≈25 min) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | King Safety | Review 20 master games that castle by move 8; annotate why. |
| 2 | Pawn Play | Play 10 thematic mini-games starting from French/F-pawn positions; aim for solid structure. |
| 3 | Tactics & CCT | 30 puzzles/day filtered for rating 600-1200; verbalise CCT aloud. |
| 4 | Endgames | Drill K+Q vs K and basic rook endings on a trainer until you can mate in <25 sec. |
📈 Track Your Progress
Peak Daily Rating: 1000 (2021-06-25)
Win-rate evolution:
Most Instructive Moment (from recent loss)
You played 15.Qxe5 without noticing Black’s pinned g4-pawn could later open a decisive attack. After 20…Nd4! the game collapsed.
Tip: when your queen becomes an adventure piece, ask “What squares will be safe for her three moves later?”
Key Concepts to Review
- Importance of the center in the first 10 moves.
- Typical French weak-square complexes after …f6/…f5.
- Common mating nets: back-rank mate, Arabian mate.
Keep the energy, Flo! A small boost in opening discipline and endgame confidence will push you past 900+ very soon.
— Your Chess Coach