Coach Chesswick
Hi Alonso!
You are still a remarkably dynamic player: sharp openings, unrelenting pawn storms and a keen eye for tactical resources keep your games fun to watch and difficult for your opponents to handle. Below is a structured review of your recent blitz session together with a few practical tips to squeeze out extra rating points.
What you are doing well
- Initiative-first mindset – With both colours you grab space (e4-d4 storms as White, …c5/…g6 Sicilians as Black) and push your opponent onto the back foot early.
- Tactical alertness – Sequences such as 20.Ne6! (win vs Surfsmurf) or 27.Rc7! (win vs Surfsmurf) show first-rate calculation under time pressure.
- Practical opening repertoire – Your treatment of the Nimzowitsch Defense and the 2.d3 Sicilian sidesteps theory and guarantees playable middlegames almost every time.
- Results in clutch endings – When you reach a technical ending with enough time, you convert confidently (e.g. R + two pawns vs lone king on move 49 against Surfsmurf).
Main growth areas
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Clock management
4 out of the 6 losses came from a winning or equal position where the only decisive factor was the flag. A quick glance at shows your performance plummets in games finishing under 15 seconds.
Quick fixes:- Aim to have >45 s by move 20. If you drop below, force a simplify: exchange queens or liquidate into a trivial ending.
- Train “bullet patterns” – mates in two, basic rook endgame techniques – so you can premove confidently. Ten minutes of premove drills before each session help.
- Use the increment: after every move <1 s you effectively “borrow” time. When safe, invest one full second to climb back over 5 s.
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Pawn-storm risk control
Many of your losses start with ambitious pushes (g4/h4/f4) that leave dark-square holes your opponents later exploit (see loss vs Surfsmurf, 2.d3 Sicilian – …Nd4! → …f5!).
Practical guideline: for every flank pawn you advance past the 4th rank, identify one defender of the newly weakened colour complex. If you can’t name it, delay the push. -
Handling the Nimzowitsch Declined (…d6 …g6 set-up)
In the only decisive loss as White you chose 4.d5 followed by 8.O-O-O. Black’s counter of …Qb6/…Nxe4 netted a pawn and the initiative.
Suggestion: switch to the safer 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Nc3 g6 6.d5! only after you have castled short; this keeps your king safe and still cramps Black.
Key fragment:
- Play 6.c4! to question the queen before Black castles long.
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Conversion vs the exchange sacrifice
Several opponents threw …Rxb2 / …Rxh4 etc. You accepted (correct) but then spent precious seconds hunting pawns. Instead, immediately activate the king and centralise rooks; the ending will win itself.
Opening snapshot
- Most frequent White first move: 1.e4
- Most frequent Black defence: Sicilian …g6 & …Nc6 lines
- Highest recent rating: 2471 (2024-01-30)
Action plan for the next week
- Play a 20-game mini-match using only the increment to decide on each move (i.e. make every move in <1 s); this builds a time “buffer”.
- Analyse five won-on-time games as if you had lost. Ask: “What is the simplest conversion line?” Log one takeaway per game.
- Add one solid alternative vs Nimzowitsch – either the 4.Nf3 main line or Scandinavian Exchange with 4.Nf3 (you already used it successfully in your first win).
- Solve 30 “one-move defence” puzzles daily to reduce blunders when you launch pawn storms.
Keep up the momentum!
Your creative style is your trademark; with slightly better clock discipline and a dash of prophylaxis you will break the 2500 blitz barrier soon.
Good luck over the board,
— Your Chess Coach