JosephArias

Personalised Coaching Report for JosephArias

Current form: sitting in the 1200-1250 blitz range with a healthy percentage of decisive games on both sides of the board. Your tactical eye is improving fast, but some structural and defensive lapses are still costing points. Your peak blitz rating so far is 1543 (2025-02-23).

What’s already working

• Tactical alertness. In several wins you spotted loose pieces (e.g. 22…Nf5! in your win against ambrozhia) and converted quickly.
• Active pawn breaks. …c5/…d5 as Black and early c4/d4 thrusts as White show that you understand space-gaining ideas.
• Confidence in open Sicilian structures. You are willing to enter sharp Smith-Morra and Hyper-Accelerated Dragon positions – a good sign for long-term attacking growth.

Biggest improvement priorities (next 2–3 weeks)

1. King safety & defensive awareness. Four of your last five losses came from leaving the king in mating nets or entering endgames with back-rank weaknesses. Make it a habit to ask “What is my opponent’s threat?” every move.
2. Piece coordination after move 10. Several games show queens and rooks entering the game while minor pieces remain undeveloped (e.g. loss vs ohnomyplums). Follow the classic order: develop – castle – connect rooks – then attack.
3. Quality over quantity in pawn grabbing. The b-pawn capture in your Reti loss (…Nxb4 20…axb4 21.Bxb4) opened files against your own king. If a pawn grab breaks coordination, skip it.

Opening focus

• White: Your early queen retreats in the Smith-Morra (Qxd4/Qd1) concede initiative. Study the main line with Nf3, Nc3, Bc4 instead.
• Black vs 1.e4: The Sicilian is fine, but choose one system for a month (e.g. the Classical …Nc6/ …Nf6) and learn its typical plans.
• Black vs 1.Nf3/1.c4: You react with a Queen’s-pawn style setup. Add the idea …e5 after …d5 to fight for the centre, or study the solid Slav Defense structures.

Illustrative tactic from your recent win

The following mini-sequence shows how quickly the game can tilt in your favour when all pieces coordinate:

Weekly training plan

• Daily: 15 minutes of mixed-theme puzzles (rating 1100-1400) to hard-wire threat detection.
• 3× per week: play one 10 + 5 rapid game and annotate it immediately, noting one critical moment.
• Weekend: choose one master game in the Sicilian Defense and replay it, guessing moves.
• Endgame drill: rook-and-pawn vs rook two times a week; your wins show promise, but consistency is key.

Progress tracker

Use the charts below to monitor when you play your best and worst chess:

Stay curious, keep the king safe, and results will follow. Good luck in your next session!