Johannes Steindl FM

Hi Johannes, here is some targeted feedback based on your latest games.

1. Time-Management (Critical!)

• Five of the last seven decisive games were decided by the clock rather than the board. Even in your recent win over Pavel Karelov you were down to 0.1 s when the flag fell in your favour.
• Action items:
  1. Adopt a “critical-moment pause”. Spend extra time only when the position justifies it, otherwise keep the hand moving.
  2. Practise bullet premove drills for typical recaptures and end-game king walks.
  3. Consider playing several 3 | 2 games each session to train quick calculation while still having increment safety.

2. Opening Repertoire – tighten move orders

• You handle the English (as Black) with a Dutch / Leningrad hybrid (…f5, …e6, …d5). That is perfectly playable but you often allow Nb1–d2–f3–e5 ideas or suffer an early dxe4 fxe4 pawn formation that becomes weak.
• With White you score well in the Ruy Lopez Berlin-lite setup (4.d3), but sometimes drift into harmless sidelines. Study 6.d4!  
  to seize the centre.
• Against the Hyper-accelerated Dragon you were mated after 25…Ra1+. Your 14.Rxe8+ Qxe8 15.Re1? let Black coordinate. Review the critical line with 14.Qh4! instead.

3. Tactical Sharpness

• You see long forcing sequences when you have time (e.g. the exchange sac 32.d8=Q Rxd8 33.Nxd8+ in your win), but under time pressure you miss simple forks (25…Ra1+ in the loss came out of nowhere).
• Daily routine: 10 mins of Puzzle Rush Survival < 40 moves; aim for 40+ score. Emphasise motifs like back-rank mate, skewers and Zwischenzug zwischenzug.

4. End-game Technique

• You converted an extra pawn rook ending nicely versus leunamme_95, but in several wins you let the conversion drag until both sides had seconds left.
• Tip: When up a clean pawn, simplify pieces before pushing pawns. Use the “do not hurry” principle, but remember you do have a clock.

5. Psychological & Practical play

• Resignations: two games were resigned in dead-lost positions with 6-8 seconds still on your clock. If the opponent can stalemate themselves or flag, make them prove it.
• Momentum: After a loss you immediately queued for the next game and lost again. Take a 2-minute break; breathe, review the key blunder, then continue.

6. Training Plan Snapshot

1. Mondays: 20 tactical puzzles + 2 annotated master games on the English.
2. Wednesdays: End-game drill (Lucena, Philidor, basic rook endings) for 30 min.
3. Fridays: Play a 15 | 10 game and self-annotate with engine only after writing your own notes.

Your Progress at a Glance

Peak blitz rating: 2502 (2020-01-16)   •   Performance by hour:

Keep up the good work!

You have tactical flair and fighting spirit; polishing time-management and a couple of opening lines will push you well beyond the next rating milestone.