Axel Rombaldoni GM

Constructive Feedback for Axel Rombaldoni

What you are doing well

• Dynamic opening choices. The early B g5 Trompowsky structures and h-pawn launches regularly put your opponents out of book and on the defensive. A good example is your recent win against u95412 where 24.Rxg7! simply collapsed Black’s king shelter.
• Tactical conversion. When the initiative is yours you convert efficiently, often finishing with mating nets or decisive material gains (e.g. 28…Qxf3+ followed by 38.Nxg4# in your win over Oleg Yaksin).
• Piece activity. Rook lifts (Rg1, Rdg1, Rh3, etc.) and switch-overs demonstrate excellent board vision and make it hard for opponents to keep all weaknesses protected.

Recurring issues to address

• Objectivity when sacrificing.
  In the loss to Piotr Jagodzinski you invested a piece with 14.Bh7+?! yet had no clear follow-up, allowing …Qxg5 and a clean material advantage for Black. Before committing, run a quick mental “three-move check”: Do I get the king, force perpetual, or win back material?
• Central stability.
  Several defeats (e.g. vs uoschi_deluxe and lz31415) started with healthy centers for you that evaporated after premature pawn pushes on the flank. Keeping one healthy central pawn (d- or e-file) would have limited counterplay.
• King safety as Black.
  The Scandinavian sideline with …h5 in bullet may score occasionally, but when the attack stalls your king is frozen on e8 and becomes a permanent tactic target. Consider a more solid fallback such as …Nf6 & …e6 or a main-line Caro/French structure.
• Time management.
  Two recent losses were on time from clearly drawable positions (PracticeMakesOK, lz31415). Practical tips: pre-move obvious recaptures, use the opponent’s think time to plan the next two ply, and avoid very forcing sub-lines that require long calculation when under 10 seconds.

Action plan for the next week

1. Pick one solid bullet opening with each colour and play at least 30 games exclusively in that repertoire to reduce opening clock burn.
2. After each game, spend 5 minutes with an engine on the first critical tactical decision (“was the sac sound?”). Store the answers in your personal file.
3. Do 15 tactics a day constrained to <30-second puzzles – this mimics bullet calculation speed.
4. Play 5 rook-and-pawn endgames vs engine in time-odds (you get <10 sec, engine 30 sec). This specifically targets your flagging losses.

Perspective

Your current peak ratings (2837 (2022-03-10) / 2710 (2022-03-09)) are elite; the changes above aim for the extra 1-2 % you need to convert streaks into rating jumps.

Activity overview

Hourly performance:

Illustrative mini-game

The following miniature shows a model treatment of the Trompowsky when the sacrifice is justified – use it as a template:

Good luck in your next session, Axel – keep the pressure, but stay objective!