Quick summary
Nice run recently — you're winning most of your daily games and showing a clear upward trend. You create real attacking chances, convert activity into concrete gains, and you already understand how to hunt weaknesses (especially on the kingside and with active rooks). There are a few recurring defensive/tactical oversights to tidy up — fix those and your win rate will climb further.
Highlights — what you're doing well
- Active piece play: you put rooks and bishops on aggressive squares and use open files well (see your wins where rook activity and passed pawns decide the game).
- Creating practical threats: you force opponents into mistakes with direct threats and tactical shots rather than slow maneuvering.
- Opening choices with payoff: you get good results with the Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense and the Center Game — these lines suit your attacking style.
- Endgame technique: in longer games you convert material and use passed pawns effectively, which is a strong practical skill.
Main areas to improve
- Watch for mating nets on the kingside. In your most recent loss against ozann you underestimated a kingside pawn storm that led to mate on h6. When the opponent opens the g/h–file or plays g4/g5, look immediately for checks or sacrifices against your king and whether your back rank or escape squares are safe.
- Tactical awareness in sharp positions. A few games show you winning by active tactics — but in defensive moments you missed one-move tactics (checks, pins, discovered attacks). Spend some focused time on the small tactical patterns that appear around mating ideas, forks and skewers.
- Defensive coordination. When under attack, prioritize simple defensive steps: get a luft for the king, trade off attacking pieces if you can equalize, or consolidate with a block on the critical file/diagonal. Avoid counterplay that leaves your king exposed.
- Opening nuance in quieter lines (Petrov). Your loss in the Petroff showed that even against lower-rated opponents you can be punished for a missed tactic. Study typical plans and pawn breaks so you’re not surprised by aggressive pawn storms.
Concrete next steps (a short weekly plan)
- Daily tactics: 12–20 puzzles per day focused on mating patterns and pins (prioritize tactical puzzles that end in mate or win material).
- Study one defensive theme per week: e.g., "how to meet g4–g5 pawn storms" and "back-rank defence" — take 3–4 model positions and play them out vs engine/human.
- Opening polishing: spend 30–45 minutes this week reviewing typical Petrov responses and the key traps in the lines you play. Keep a one-page cheat sheet of 3 moves to avoid common pitfalls.
- Annotate one recent game per week (win and loss). Mark the turning move and answer: “What did I miss?” Try this right after the game while it’s fresh, then check with an engine to learn the pattern.
Practical checklist to use during a game
- Before each move, ask: “Is my king safe?” — if no, spend extra time to address it.
- When the opponent pushes pawns toward your king (g4/g5/h4/h5), look for immediate tactical shots (captures, checks) and for simple trades to blunt the attack.
- When you see a tactic for your opponent (e.g., a possible discovered check or fork), stop and calculate it fully — these are often the game deciders.
- In complex positions, simplify when behind in safety; exchange attackers for defenders if it calms the position.
Example — study one of your wins
Replay the tactical finish from your recent win vs paulmcn1358: it shows how you turned piece activity into a mating attack. Walk through the game and identify the key moment where tension favored you. Use the viewer below to replay the sequence move-by-move.
Short-term goals (next 2 weeks)
- Complete 10 tactical sets focused on mating patterns (back rank, mate on h6) and document three patterns you still miss.
- Annotate your loss vs ozann and identify the exact move where defence collapsed — share it with me if you want a deeper post-mortem.
- Play 5 daily games while consciously applying the “Is my king safe?” checklist; after each game mark one moment where that question changed the result.
Final encouragement
Your attacking instincts and ability to convert activity are genuine strengths. Fixing a few defensive/tactical blind spots and adding a focused, small training routine will give you fast, measurable improvement. If you want, send one loss or win (just the PGN) and I’ll annotate the key moments step‑by‑step.