Феликс Тульчинский FM

Blitz Performance — constructive feedback

Feliks, you show clear strength in blitz with solid opening choices and good practical fighting spirit. You tend to seize the initiative when a chance appears and you convert favorable positions with patient, accurate play. The following notes aim to keep your momentum while tightening areas that often decide blitz results: time management, endgame technique, and selective calculation in pressure moments.

What you’re doing well

• Choosing reliable, solid openings that lead to clear middlegame plans. This helps you avoid early random complexities and keeps games within your comfort zone.
• Staying active in the middlegame and creating practical chances even from quiet openings. Your pieces often harmonize well and you generate encouraging attacking ideas when the situation allows.
• Capitalizing on initiative to push for favorable trades and simplifying into winning endgames when you have the advantage.

Key improvements to target

• Time management in blitz. Build a simple timing plan for each phase of the game (opening, middlegame, endgame) and practice sticking to it in training so you don’t rush critical moments or get into time trouble.
• Endgame technique. Blitz often ends in simplified endgames where precise king and pawn technique or rook endings decide. Strengthen practical endgame conversion with focused drills (e.g., rook endings, king activity in pawn endgames).
• Calculation discipline under pressure. In sharp or forcing lines, aim to prune lines quickly and prioritize safe, improvement-focused moves rather than chasing speculative tactics that may backfire in blitz time controls.
• Avoid overcomplication in familiar positions. Lean on your opening repertoire and standard middlegame plans to reduce risky experiments when the clock is tight.

Opening repertoire guidance

Your data shows strong results with several solid defenses and structures. Consider prioritizing a compact, repeatable blitz repertoire built around these openings:

• French Defense — a very solid response to your e4 and a gateway to good counterplay. This can help you defend passive positions while creating counter chances. French Defense
• Czech Defense — another robust choice that yields clear plans and solid structures for blitz.
• Colle System — a reliable, positional opening that keeps the game simple and allows you to reach favorable endgames more often. Colle System: Rhamphorhynchus Variation
• Amazon Attack or related solid options like the Siberian Attack (as White) can provide aggressive opportunities without needing heavy theory. Amazon Attack

Tip: pick two Black replies (for e4 and d4) and one White system to practice deeply. Use these as your primary blitz tools and keep a few quick-to-play secondary lines for surprise moments.

Practical training plan (4 weeks)

• Week 1: Time management focus. Do short blitz drills (5–7 minutes per game) and implement a pre-move policy: read the forcing moves, then decide quickly if the line is safe. End the week with 10-15 games reviewed for time usage patterns.
• Week 2: Repertoire solidification. Pick two Black defenses (for example, French and Czech) and two White structures (Colle System and a flexible English setup). Study typical middlegame plans and common tactical motifs from those depots.
• Week 3: Endgame drill. Practice rook endings, king-and-pawn endings, and basic fortresses. Use 15–20 minutes of focused endgame drills midweek, plus 10 blitz games concentrating on converting long endgames.
• Week 4: Game review and meta. Record 15–20 blitz games, annotate key turning points, and identify recurring mistakes to target in the next cycle. End with a small set of ready-to-use lines for your two main openings.

Fast improvement plan — quick wins to implement

• Create a simple pre-game checklist: confirm your opening plan, identify your target piece activity, and set a minimum number of forcing moves to consider before cross-checking candidate replies.
• During games, aim to avoid only trading when it improves your activity or simplifies a clearly winning endgame.
• Regularly review two recent games (one win, one loss) to extract one concrete improvement point from each and apply it in the next session.

Optional reference and enrichment

For quick topic lookups during study, you can explore these openings conceptually:

• French Defense: a solid, counterattacking structure. French Defense
• Czech Defense: a reliable alternative that often leads to clear, manageable positions. Czech Defense
• Colle System: a dependable, long-term plan with clear endgame targets. Colle System: Rhamphorhynchus Variation

Next steps

Start by locking in a two-opening plan (one Black, one White) and implement the 4-week plan. After completing Week 4, re-evaluate your blitz goals and adjust your repertoire based on what produced the most consistent results under time pressure.