Coach Chesswick
Feedback for Oleg Artemenko
Great job on your recent games, especially in Chess960 — you've shown resourcefulness adapting to various openings and positions. Here are some key points to focus on for your continued improvement:
Strengths
- Opening Flexibility: You’ve handled unusual starting positions with creativity, which is essential in Chess960. Your tactical awareness in chaotic positions is promising.
- Aggressive Play: Your active piece play, such as timely piece sacrifices and sharp attacking moves, shows confidence and willingness to create complications—this often led you to winning chances.
- Positional Understanding: Several games showed good control of key squares and sensible pawn breaks which contributed to seizing the initiative.
Areas for Improvement
- King Safety and Awareness: In a few faster-paced games, there were moments where your king became vulnerable (e.g., early attacks near your monarch). Prioritize calculating opponent threats and improving your king’s safety, especially before committing to aggressive operations.
- Time Management: Noticeable clock pressure in critical moments affected decision-making. Try to develop a balanced pace — don't rush early moves but avoid heavy time shortages before complex positions. Practicing increment time controls can also help reduce time trouble.
- Endgame Technique: Some losses came after promising middlegame positions. Spending extra time studying fundamental endgames will maximize your chances of converting advantages or saving difficult positions.
Next Steps
- Review your recent games from start to finish — identify tactical oversights and any patterns in your losses.
- Focus on practicing safety around your king. Even in unorthodox Chess960 openings, make sure to prioritize castling or placing the king in secure zones.
- Work on time management skills by playing training games with similar controls and consciously practicing a steady, thoughtful pace.
- Study basic endgames such as king and pawn, rook endgames, and simple minor piece endings.
Keep up the hard work, Oleg! Your passion for Chess960 and adaptability is a strong foundation. With focus on these areas, you’ll see your overall performance and confidence improve steadily.