Coach Chesswick
Hi Dusan!
Below is a personalised review of your recent games and a practical action-plan for rapid improvement.
Snapshot of your performance
- Peak Blitz rating: 2693 (2023-06-28)
- Peak Rapid rating: 2582 (2021-02-26)
- Hourly win-rate pattern:
- Win-rate by day of the week:
Your current strengths
- Hot starts in the opening. You usually develop quickly and fight for the centre—excellent habits that give you playable positions against stronger opponents.
- Willingness to attack. Many of your wins feature pawn storms (…g5/…h5 or g4/h4 with White) that create practical chances, e.g. the decisive attack in your latest win:
- Fighting spirit. Even when under pressure you keep looking for counter-play instead of drifting passively.
Recurring problems to address
- King safety after premature pawn pushes.
Games vs Gorbaev and Ucitelot show that advancing the g- and h-pawns too early can leave dark squares and your king exposed. Ask yourself before pushing: “Can my king still hide if the attack fails?” A brief illustration from the loss to Ucitelot:
Black’s kingside is wide open, yet your own king on f3 never finds shelter.
- Time-management. In several blitz games you entered critical positions with <10 seconds and flagged from completely drawable (even winning) positions. Adopt a simple rule: reach move 20 with ≥50 % of your initial time.
- Converting advantages. In the English Opening loss you were a pawn up but lost the thread in a favourable rook endgame. Work on basic rook & pawn technique and practise the “two-result mindset”: once better, remove counter-play first.
Opening focus for the next month
- With White: Your mix of 1.e4, London and English is fine, but narrow it to two main systems so preparation goes deeper. Consider the London-English hybrid: 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bf4 followed by c4 when convenient.
- With Black: Against 1.e4 you successfully reach ECO B33 type positions. Study the model game Carlsen–Caruana, 2019 (Pelikan/Sveshnikov) to copy the typical plans.
Against 1.d4 your Chigorin setup (…Nc6 & …dxc4 ideas) gives dynamic play—keep it but learn the critical line 1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nc3 dxc4.
Middlegame themes to drill
- King-side pawn storms: study when h–pawn pushes are sound versus reckless.
- Exchange sacrifices on f3/f6—very thematic in your favourite setups.
- Prophylaxis (prophylaxis): every move ask, “What is my opponent’s idea?” before moving.
Endgame essentials
Spend one week each on:
- King + pawn vs king (opposition, outside passer).
- Rook endings: Lucena and Philidor, then the “side-check” technique.
- Minor-piece endings: knight vs bishop with pawns on both wings.
Concrete training plan (4-week block)
- Daily: 20 tactical puzzles untimed → write down all candidate moves before revealing the answer.
- 3× per week: play one 15 + 10 rapid game and annotate it, focusing on critical decisions, not move-by-move commentary.
- Weekly: pick one master game in your opening and replay it twice—first quickly for ideas, second time guessing moves.
- End of each week: play four rook-and-pawn endgame positions vs engine set to 2000 Elo.
Mindset tip
Before each move run a 30-second blunder check: 1) What changed in the position? 2) Are my king, queen or back-rank vulnerable? 3) Does an in-between move (zwischenzug) exist for my opponent?
Final thoughts
Your tactical eye and fighting attitude are already at master level; polishing king safety and time-usage will convert more of your good positions into points. Stay disciplined with the plan above for one month, then we’ll raise the bar again. Enjoy the journey!