Olivier Kenta IM

Constructive Feedback for Olivier “kenta1234”

1. Strengths to Keep Nurturing

• Flexible opening repertoire. In your most-recent win against Jojogwene you showed how smoothly you can transpose from a Réti set-up into a King’s Indian Attack structure. You handled the pawn breaks (11.c4 & 12.cxd5) with excellent timing.
• Piece activity over material. Moves such as 26.Ne5! and 28.Nd7! in the same game illustrate a good eye for activity, even when it costs a pawn.
• Conversion technique. After 30…Kg7 you calmly improved every piece and pushed the queenside majority until Black had to resign. That “ladder” approach—fix, improve, push—works very well for you.

2. Recurring Issues & Action Plans

a. Over-expanded queenside in the Réti/English

In the loss to Alexey Kislinsky you played the typical 10.Rb1 & 11.cxb5 idea, but b3–b4 arrived too late to justify the space gain. Once the a6–b5–Ba6 battery appeared, your queen was forced into passive defence and the counter-play on the light squares evaporated.

• Drill: Put the following position on a board: after 10…b5. Practise three defensive set-ups (A) a4, (B) e4 break, (C) Nd2–f1–e3 regroup, and note how each influences Black’s queenside assault.
• Reference game: Carlsen-Caruana, Wijk aan Zee 2020, where White meets …b5 with an immediate a4.

b. Kingside dark-square weaknesses in the Modern/King’s Indian structures

Several February losses (e.g. vs blefer66 and Statham) followed the pattern …g6/…Bg7 ➜ …c5/…d5 ➜ …f5 with the h6–g6–f5 complex falling apart. Once White’s knight landed on f4/f5 the dark squares crumbled.

• Concept to review: Exchange sacrifice …Rxf3 and related ideas; they often save Black’s structure when the Bg7 is under fire.
• Training: Load 25 rapid puzzles that start with a dark-square crisis in the Modern/King’s Indian and look for preventive resources (…Kh7, …Nh7-g5, or the early …e5).

c. Time-management in 3-minute games

Even when positions were equal you often had <40 s versus >1 min for the opponent (see moves 30-40 of the Alexchess1984 game). Because your technique is good, the best “rating gain” per hour probably lies in shaving 10-15 s off the opening phase.

• Prepare a 30-move “autopilot” repertoire for both colours: lines you trust and can play almost on sight. This avoids burning time on familiar positions.
• Practise “increment blitz”: 3 + 2 helps develop the habit of banking time whenever the move is obvious.

3. Concrete Study Menu (Next 2 Weeks)

1. Day 1-3: Analyse the loss vs Alexchess1984 with an engine, but stop it after depth 20 and write down human plans first.
2. Day 4-6: 30 tactical puzzles/day filtered for motifs deflection and back-rank mate. You missed Rg2+ ideas twice in February—let’s patch that.
3. Day 7-10: Endgame flashcards—rook vs passed pawn (your win vs Riley could have simplified sooner with 34.Rf3! instead of 34…Rdxd7).
4. Day 11-14: Play ten 10 + 0 games focusing on Modern Defence as Black but delay …g6 until move 3-4; compare results.

4. Motivation Board

Your current personal records:

• Peak blitz rating: 2901 (2024-11-28)
• Peak rapid rating: 2434 (2021-05-16)

5. Final Encouragement

You are already converting small advantages with impressive consistency. If you tighten the early move-ordering in your favourite openings and save 15-20 seconds per game, breaking the next rating barrier is realistic within a month. Keep the curiosity alive—every loss in February contained a future lesson you can turn into a win!

Good luck at the board, and feel free to send me any game for a deeper dive.