Coach Chesswick
Quick summary
Nice stretch — your rating trend and recent +72 month gain show clear improvement. Your wins demonstrate strong piece activity, rook invasions and passed‑pawn play. The loss highlights a recurring weakness: pawn‑race calculation and queenless endgame timing. Small focused changes will convert more of your good positions into wins.
What you do well
- Active piece play: you routinely bring rooks and knights into the opponent’s camp (examples vs jackets19 and arvind_kyn). That creates concrete targets and tactical chances.
- Rook on the 7th / open files: you understand the power of invading the 7th rank and using open files to squeeze the opponent.
- Creating passed pawns: you push and advance passed pawns confidently, turning space into a decisive asset.
- Tactical sharpness in complex middlegames: you spot forks and tactical conversions quickly in messy positions.
Main areas to improve (actionable)
- Pawn‑race calculation: before exchanging into queenless or simplified positions, count who promotes first. The loss vs Arseniy Astafurov was decided by an advancing pawn that queued to queen — that was a calculation/tempo oversight.
- Avoid simplifying when behind in pawn tempos: trading queens or pieces can hand the opponent an unstoppable passer. Only simplify after you verify the race by counting pawn moves and king routing times.
- Opening follow‑up in Caro‑Kann/Panov types: you had many active plans but sometimes missed the specific defensive resource opponents use (blocking squares, timely exchanges). A short targeted review of the typical replies will pay dividends.
- Time management finishing technique: some wins ended on flags. Keep a short, repeatable finish routine for winning positions so you don't need to rely on the opponent flagging.
Concrete examples & plain‑English notes
- vs jackets19 (King’s‑Indian style): You converted by coordinating rooks on the 7th rank while using knight outposts to control escape squares — excellent use of activity to create a decisive pawn push.
- vs arvind_kyn (Tarrasch/Typical central play): You used knight jumps into the center and created a passed b‑pawn that promoted because you maintained the initiative and prevented counterplay.
- vs Arseniy Astafurov (Caro‑Kann/Panov): After several exchanges you faced a pawn‑race where the opponent’s b‑pawn promoted. Before trading down in similar positions, explicitly count pawn moves to promotion and the king’s path to stop it.
7‑day focused training plan
- Daily tactics — 20 minutes: puzzles emphasising pawn‑races, rook tactics and promotion races.
- Endgames — 3 sessions × 25 minutes: rook+pawn vs rook basics, queenless pawn races, Lucena/Philidor familiarity.
- Opening review — 3 × 15 minutes: study the Caro‑Kann Panov and related ideas you play; memorise 2 anti‑plans the opponent uses and your best replies.
- Practical blitz — 5–10 games with the target time control: after each session, annotate two decisive games (one win, one loss) and extract one repeatable improvement.
- Weekly deep review — 45 minutes: pick the loss vs Arseniy Astafurov (or another critical game) and calculate the pawn‑race lines until you can explain who queens first and why.
Blitz checklist (use before critical moments)
- Before trading queens or pieces, ask: “Will a passed pawn appear? Who promotes first?” Count pawn pushes and king moves aloud if necessary.
- When ahead in activity, aim for a rook invasion on the 7th plus a knight outpost or a protected passer — rehearse this finishing pattern.
- If short on time, avoid risky simplifications; keep a practical plan (attack, block, or blockade) rather than forcing a pawn race you haven’t calculated.
Small fixes you can apply immediately
- Spend an extra 10–20 seconds on critical trades to count pawn‑race tempi — this simple habit prevents repeat losses like the Panov game.
- When you see a passed pawn appear, stop and evaluate: can you block it, capture it, or race it? Pick one clear plan before moving.
- Train one “finisher” (rook on 7th + knight + passed pawn) in online practice — repeating a small set of winning motifs turns intuition into reliable technique.
Next steps — pick one
- Want a move‑by‑move annotated version of the Rap_woyska game showing exactly where the pawn‑race went wrong? I can do that.
- Prefer a personalised 4‑week training schedule (tactics + endgames + openings) tuned to the time you have each day? I can build it.
Tell me which option you want and I’ll prepare the next step. Keep up the momentum — your trend slope is positive and you’re in a great spot to convert more wins.