Grayson Garner

Hi Grayson, here’s some personalized feedback based on your recent games!

What you’re already doing well

• Fighting spirit & tactical alertness. Your wins often come from spotting tactics such as 41.Qxe7+ followed by 42.Qg7# in your Nimzowitsch-Larsen game. That shows you can calculate forcing lines under pressure.
• Willingness to seize material. You rarely hesitate to capture loose pieces or pawns (e.g. 12.Qxa8+ and 7.Qxc4). This is a good habit—keep grabbing free stuff!
• Clock management in faster games. Several opponents flagged while you still had time. Knowing when to speed up is a useful practical skill.

Key improvement themes

1. Opening fundamentals

You often begin with off-beat ideas such as the Grob (1.g4) or very early queen moves. They’re fun, but at your current level they also hand the initiative to Black. Try building a “starter” repertoire you can trust:

• As White: 1.e4 followed by the Italian Game (Bc4 & Nf3) or the London System with 1.d4 & Bf4.
• As Black: against 1.e4 play the Scandinavian (1…d5) or a solid Double-King-Pawn (1…e5). Against 1.d4 try the Queen’s Gambit Declined with …e6 and …d5.

Notice how these lines obey three simple rules: develop pieces, fight for the centre, and castle early. Your losses frequently broke one of those rules (e.g. un-castled king & hanging knights in the 1.g4 game).

2. Basic king safety

In several defeats your king was still in the centre when heavy pieces appeared (…Qf3+ in your Grob loss, …Qxg2# in the Giuoco Piano). Make a “castle by move 10” checklist; if you can’t castle, ask “why not?” and fix that issue first.

3. Blunder-check routine

Before every move, do a quick scan:

1. “Is any of my stuff en-prise?”
2. “What is my opponent’s last move threatening?”
3. “If I play my intended move, can they give a check, fork or pin?”

That extra 5-second habit will slash the number of dropped pieces.

4. Tactical pattern training

Your attacking instincts are good, but defensive vision lags behind. Spend 10–15 min a day on tactics puzzles, especially those where you must defend or find the opponent’s tactic. Aim for accuracy, not speed.

5. Endgame basics

Even when you reach won endings you sometimes let the initiative slip (see the b-pawn race in your Englund Gambit loss). Work on:

• King activity in pawn endings.
• Converting a rook+pawn vs. rook ending.
• Lucena & Philidor positions.

A suggested training plan

1. Play 3 games a day at 10 + 5 or 15 + 10. After each one, run the Chess.com analysis and manually annotate two critical moments.
2. Solve 20 tactical puzzles daily (mix of easy & medium).
3. Watch one short video/lesson on king safety or basic endgames per week.
4. Every Sunday, review your own saved games and log blunders in a notebook—look for recurring patterns.

Motivation corner

Your current best is 1362 (2021-09-14). Let’s push that 100 pts higher over the next two months. Consistency beats intensity!

Keep an eye on rival jake_masten—use each encounter with them as a yard-stick for your progress.

Progress trackers

Visual dashboards update automatically as you play:

Final thought

Chess mastery = Principles + Pattern recognition + Practice. You already have the fighting spirit; add structure to your study and the rating gains will follow. Good luck, and enjoy the journey!