Grant Parnon

Quick review — recent bullet games

Nice work converting concrete advantages and creating winning chances under severe time pressure. Below is a focused review of recurring patterns, plus practical drills you can start right away.

What you’re doing well

• Conversion instinct — you push passed pawns and follow through to promotion or decisive material gains.
• Active rooks and coordination — you use open files and doubled rooks to create immediate threats.
• Tactical sharpness — you spot captures, forks and mating nets quickly in the middlegame.
• Practical play in simplified positions — you keep making active threats instead of passively defending.

High-impact weaknesses to fix

• Time management: several games were decided by the clock. Build fast thinking habits so you don’t lose winning positions to time trouble.
• Counterplay oversight: when racing to promote, double-check for opponent checks, rook infiltration or tactical deflections that ruin the race.
• Unfavorable simplifications: avoid trades that hand the opponent a superior pawn-structure or active king unless you’re sure of a clear win.
• Pre-move hygiene: pre-moves are powerful but dangerous in complex positions — use them only when the reply is forced or harmless.

Concrete patterns & examples

• Promotion races — you converted well (queen promotion in one game). Drill common pawn-race motifs (opposition of kings, rook checks, queening with tempo).
• Rook activity — you often win after getting rooks to the 7th/absolute 7th rank. When you gain a 7th-rank rook, look for immediate infiltration or tactical finish.
• Opening simplification — many games reach French-type structures. Pick a 1–2 move plan in those lines so opening play becomes near-automatic in bullet.

Practical bullet checklist (during a game)

• Clock < 10s? Switch to checks/captures/safe moves; don’t calculate long lines.
• Before pushing a pawn to promotion, ask: “Any checks, forks, or skewer tactics for my opponent?”
• When ahead materially, search for forcing wins first — mates/perpetuals — rather than slow strategic moves that let the opponent flag you.
• Use safe pre-moves only for single legal replies or simple captures.

Training plan — next 4 weeks

• Daily (10–15 min): fast tactics drills to improve pattern recognition under time constraints.
• 3×/week (15–20 min): endgame drills — king + pawn vs king, rook endgames, and promotion races.
• 2×/week: play 5–10 bullet games and review only decisive losses — identify the move where the evaluation swung.
• Weekly: tidy one opening line used often so you can play the first 6–8 moves instantly in bullet.

Key moment to study

Study a short forcing sequence to practice counting checks and deciding whether to race or stop opponent counterplay. Replay this mini sequence and focus on “who keeps checking and who promotes first”:

Ask: if you’re low on time, which side’s checks matter most? Can you force the opponent into a Zugzwang or secure the queening square?

Opening & repertoire note

• You play many French structures. Either deepen one sharp line so your moves are automatic in bullet, or switch to a simpler-to-play setup that reduces long thinking in the opening.
• If you’d like, I can recommend a concise 3–move repertoire for your most-played defenses that gives quick, clear plans.

Next steps

• Try the 7–10 day training plan above and track whether time-losses drop.
• Daily review: pick one loss, find the turning move, and write a short note on the better alternative.
• If you want, send one full game and I’ll annotate the three most important moments with exact alternatives.

Small encouragement

Your tactical sense and practical finishing ability are clear strengths — tighten your time-skills and endgame drills, and you’ll see immediate rating gains in bullet. Want a 7-day drill schedule and one opening line to start with?

Recent opponent example: tudels_123