Aleksei Garanin FM

Personalised Coaching Report – Aleksei Garanin

1. Current standing

Peak rapid rating: 2408 (2020-08-15)  •  Peak blitz rating: 2288 (2018-07-14)

Recent activity charts:

2. What you are already doing very well

• Dynamic openings as Black. Your use of the King’s Indian, Benko/Benoni and the Najdorf consistently gives you rich, double-edged middlegames. You often emerge with the initiative (e.g. 28…Nb6! in the Najdorf win vs brunoo2003).
• Piece activity and pressure. In several victories you out-coordinate opponents by doubling heavy pieces on open files (game vs moro182: …Rfc8/Rc8-c7-c4 sequence).
• Counter-attacking instincts. You willingly sacrifice pawns (Benko Gambit win vs Saif_Malek04) to seize the long-term initiative and exploit time trouble.

3. Key themes to improve

1. Conversion in technical endgames.
   In the loss to You_are_not_free an equal rook-and-minor-piece ending turned into a lost queen ending after 29…Qd2+. Your pawn structure was sound; the issue was allowing the c-pawn to run.
   Training task: Practise “rook + minor piece vs rook + minor piece” endings with Stockfish set to 2200; give yourself 3 minutes and a 5-second increment.
2. Over-extension of flank pawns.
   Games vs xamax2000 and Lempire123 show early g- and h-pawn pushes without full king-side control, inviting breaks like …b5 or …c5.
   Tip: Before advancing a wing pawn, count all defenders of the pawn chain and ask “Can my opponent open a file in ≤ 3 moves?”
3. Time management in critical positions.
   Most blunders occurred with <90 seconds on the clock. Example: after 27.Rc2?? in the Lempire loss you had only 11 seconds, missing …dxc4!.
   Drill: During practice games force yourself to decide every candidate move in 60 seconds, then annotate which decisions really needed deeper calculation.

4. Opening map

5. Middlegame focus

• Minor-piece domination. Study classic KID plans (Kasparov–Karpov 1990 G24) to refine manoeuvres like …Nh5–f4.
• Prophylaxis. Ask before every committal pawn move: “What is my opponent’s most annoying reply?” This single question would have avoided 25.c4? vs Lempire.

6. Endgame drill deck

Complete 20 puzzles per week from the following positions:

1. Rook + 2 vs Rook + 1 flank pawns.
2. Minor-piece vs pawns (your loss on move 44.e6 illustrates the theme).
3. Queen endings with one passed pawn each side.

7. Action plan for the next 14 days

• Play 10 rapid games with a strict 5-minute post-game self-analysis before engine check.
• Review at least one classical game daily featuring your opening (choices: Geller for Benko, Kasparov for KID, Caruana for Najdorf).
• Solve 30-minute tactic session focused on intermediate moves and zwischenzugs.

8. Motivation corner

Your tactical vision and fighting spirit already rival titled players – sharpening the technical phase will push you past the next milestone. Keep the board busy and the analysis honest, and I expect a new personal best soon!