juriko

Quick summary

Nice mix of sharp play and practical decision-making in these recent blitz games. You showed good tactical intuition (a clean rook sac in your win) and willingness to create imbalances, but you also had a short game where a kingside pawn/structure misstep let the opponent simplify into a winning advantage. Below are concrete takeaways and short practice steps you can use in the next week.

Game highlights (useful places to review)

• Win vs Julia Antolak — strong tactical sequence and conversion. Key moment: you sacrificed a rook on the opponent’s seventh rank to open lines and activate your passed pawns; that changed the dynamic and let you convert. (Study the sequence around move 27.)
• Loss vs asdzzz1 — the kingside opened quickly after exchanges and a pawn recapture; you lost tempo and let White exploit pins and tactics. Examine the decision to play the h-pawn and the resulting g-file weaknesses.
• Draw (same short game) — same position as the loss; treat this as a single mini-theme: avoid unnecessary pawn moves that create holes around your king in the opening when the opponent can create pins and attacking chances.
• Opening nodes to review: Nimzo-Indian Defense (your win), Ruy Lopez (the loss/draw game).

What you did well

• Good tactical vision in complex positions — you spotted and executed a forcing rook sacrifice that produced serious winning chances and eventually a win.
• Converted a dynamic advantage into a passed pawn threat and coordinated your queen and rook well to finish the job.
• Willingness to create imbalances; that’s a strength in blitz because it produces practical chances your opponent may not calculate fully under time pressure.
• Fast decision-making on many moves — that keeps you on the clock and lets you pressure opponents who need to think longer.

Key areas to improve

• Avoid weakening pawn moves around your king too early. In the Ruy Lopez game the h-pawn advance (and subsequent recaptures) opened lines your opponent exploited — prioritize king safety and only loosen the structure when you gain a concrete target.
• Check tactics before committing to captures that look natural. Ask: “What counterchecks, forks or discovered checks does my opponent have?” A quick tactical double-check will save games against strong opponents.
• Post-sacrifice follow-up calculation: after you sac material, always verify the opponent’s best resource that tries to trade into an unfavorable endgame/queening race. In your win you handled this well, but make it a habit to visualize the full promotion/counterplay possibilities.
• Time management in blitz: don’t spend too little time on critical branches (sacrifice or defense). Spend an extra 5–15 seconds to verify forcing lines when the position is unbalanced.

Concrete drills and training plan (7–14 days)

• Daily 10–15 minute tactic session focused on pins, skewers and discovered checks (these are common in your recent games).
• 3 rapid games (10+5) this week focused only on king safety: whenever you move a pawn in front of the king, annotate in analysis why you made it and what holes it creates.
• Practice “calculation bursts”: set a 3‑minute timer and solve a forcing-line puzzle requiring 4–6 plies. This trains you to visualize promotion and defensive replies under time pressure.
• Study the win with a board: replay the sequence around your rook sac (move 27) and try to find the opponent’s best defense — then compare to what happened. Use the PGN below to load the game quickly into a study tool or replay it on a phone.

Short, actionable tips for blitz

• Before you capture, do a 3-second tactical checklist: checks, captures, threats. If any are dangerous, pause and recalc.
• Use the first minute to reach a safe, logical middlegame (no unnecessary pawn thrusts near your king).
• If you see a sac, quickly count forced moves to see if the opponent can trade into an equalizing endgame or force perpetual — this will stop speculative sacrifices.
• When ahead in material or structure, simplify pieces rather than pawns: exchanging pieces helps convert without giving counterplay to the opponent.

Game-specific study notes

• Win vs Julia Antolak — review the rook sac and the promotion race. Key concept: you turned a local tactic into a long-term passed-pawn advantage. Use the PGN below for quick replay:
• Loss vs asdzzz1 — inspect move 6...h5 and the resulting kingside structure. Ask: did that pawn move create a tactical target? Work on avoiding that type of weakening in the opening.

Next steps (this week)

• Run the four tasks above (tactics, rapid king-safety games, calculation bursts, game replay) and log one short note after each session: what changed in your play?
• Pick two typical opening lines you play (keep it simple) and write the 3 most common plans for both sides — this reduces “guessing” in the first 10 moves of blitz.
• After 5 more blitz games, review two losses and two wins for recurring patterns (weak pawn moves, missed forks, strong piece coordination). Repeat the targeted drill that addresses the most common issue.

If you want, I can: 1) annotate the full win move-by-move with short explanations, or 2) create a 7-day tactics set tailored to the themes above. Which do you prefer?