Theo Stijve IM

Hi Theo, here is your personalised post-match report!

1. Snapshot of your current form

• Peak rating so far: 2790 (2023-12-01)
• When you win most often:

2. What you are already doing well

• Active opening choices. Your recent wins with 6.h4! against the Modern and the crisp liquidation in the London System show that you are comfortable steering the game to positions you understand.
• Spotting tactical resources. The exchange-sac followed by 22…Ng3+ in your win over Unagi5 was excellent; it forced structural weaknesses and created lasting counter-play.
• Practical fighting spirit. Even in worse endgames you keep setting problems (e.g. the perpetual-attempt sequence 57…g4, 60…f3 vs alphanero5).

3. Patterns that are costing you points

• Clock handling. Three of the last five losses were on time in roughly equal or drawable positions. You often slip under 20 s with 20+ moves to play.
• Over-extension of flank pawns. In the losses to AmericanPatzer3 (French) and adi64bond (Richter-Rauzer) the early h-pawn advance left dark-square holes around your king once the centre opened.
• Conversion technique. Winning positions sometimes fizzle out because you keep attacking instead of transitioning to a won endgame (see 33…Ra8+ against AmericanPatzer3 where a simpler queen trade was available).
• Ignoring the opponent’s resources. The exchange sac 26……Rxb3 you allowed versus adi64bond was a direct result of overlooking the counter-threat on b2. A quick blunder-check before committing would have avoided this.

4. Technical focus areas

1. Time-management drill. Play three-minute games where you must move every 3 seconds for the first 15 moves. The aim is to trust your preparation and keep at least 1:30 on the clock when the middlegame starts.
2. King safety audit. Each time you push a rook pawn before move 15, ask “Can my opponent hit the same colour complex I just weakened?” – a quick tempo invested in safety often saves you a game.
3. Endgame clean-up. Twice this week you avoided a queen swap that would leave you with a clearly winning pawn ending. Revisit the chapter on Queen & pawn vs queen and practise 10 Lichess studies on that theme.
4. Blunder-check routine. After selecting a candidate move, force yourself to look for all captures and checks for the opponent. Even five seconds of “what can they do to me?” will catch 80 % of the slips seen in your PGNs.

5. Illustrative example

The following fragment shows how quickly the initiative can switch if you slow down for one move:

Here, 30.Rh1? was played instantly and missed the simple 30.Kb1! when Black’s pawns are still blockaded. One calm move would have kept total control.

6. Training plan for the next two weeks

7. Motivational nudge

You are already beating 2600-level opposition on good days; ironing out the few recurrent leaks will push you to the next bracket. Remember: solid structure first, then unleash the fireworks – it is much harder for the opponent to survive your attack when they have no counter-play.

Good luck, and see you at the next session! 🎯