Coach Chesswick
Hi Joshua, here is some personalized feedback based on your recent games.
What you are doing well
- Fighting spirit and tactical alertness. You often find resourceful knight forks (e.g. …Nd4, …Ne5, …Nxe4) and aren’t afraid to grab pawns such as 15…Nxa2 in the Sicilian.
- Solid “Dragon-style” structure as Black. …c5 + …g6 + …Bg7 is serving you well and gives you familiar middlegame plans.
- Pressure on the clock. Six of your last seven wins came from opponents flagging. Good practical skill—now let’s add accuracy so the wins are earned on the board too.
Biggest improvement targets
-
Time management. Your three most recent losses were on time in playable positions.
Action plan:- Play a daily session of 10 min rapid with a 5-second increment for the next two weeks.
- Use 40/20 rule: aim to have ≥40 s left by move 20.
-
Premature pawn storms with the king still in the centre.
In several games you played g4/h4 as early as move 9–11 while your king or queenside was undeveloped.
Key guideline: Pawns only go once—move them after your pieces are ready.
Quick illustration from the Alekhine loss: - Endgame conversion. When you reach winning positions you occasionally let the opponent escape (or flag yourself). Basic endings to drill this month: king-and-pawn vs king, rook + pawn vs rook, and “Lucena/Philidor”.
Opening tune-ups
| Colour | Keep | Polish |
|---|---|---|
| White (1.e4) | French Advance (score 1-0 vs tricolor95) | Have a concrete reply to 1…d5 (Scandinavian/Alekhine). Study 10-move depth repertoire so you aren’t improvising with 9.Ne5?! again. |
| Black vs 1.e4 | Sicilian …g6 set-ups | Learn one main line against 3.d4 (Open Sicilian) and one against closed systems (2.Bc4/2.d3). Work through 5 annotated model games each. |
| Black vs 1.d4 | King’s Indian structure (…Nf6 …g6 …d6) | Memorise the basic pawn breaks …e5 and …c5 and when to use them. |
Suggested weekly routine (4 hrs total)
- 2 rapid games (10 + 5) with post-game notes – 1 hr.
- Tactics trainer – 15 min daily (aim 20 high-quality puzzles) – 1 hr 45 min.
- Endgame drill using Chess.com’s drills or lichess studies – 30 min.
- Opening study: replay one GM model game in each of your main openings – 45 min.
Track your progress
• Peak rapid rating so far: 1331 (2020-09-11)
• Monitor when you win most often:
• Compare performance by weekday:
Next steps
- Adopt the 10 + 5 time control for practice games this week.
- Play one game without any early pawn thrusts on the wing—focus on centre, development, king safety.
- Review and annotate the full Alekhine Defence loss with Stockfish for 15 minutes, noting ONE concrete improvement per move 8-20.
Stay consistent and your rating will break 1200 soon—good luck!