Hi Barbara!
It’s always a pleasure to review the games of such an imaginative player. Below you’ll find personalised feedback drawn from your most-recent wins and losses, together with concrete training suggestions for the coming weeks.
Your Overall Strengths
- Dynamic opening choices. With Black you willingly enter sharp Sicilians (B72, B32) and aren’t afraid of castling long or playing the Dragon. As White your Rossolimo/Ruy-Lopez repertoire keeps opponents guessing early.
- Tactical alertness. Many wins were decided by combinations that exploited loose pieces (e.g. 15. Qd5! in the B72 game and the Rb7# miniature). Your calculation is clearly a major asset.
- Resourcefulness in worse positions. Even when your structure is compromised you keep posing problems and often bounce back to equalise.
Recurring Issues to Address
- Chronic time pressure. Five of the last seven losses ended on the clock, not the board. Even won positions (see the loss vs Tekushka) slipped away because of single-second scrambles. • Action plan: add two weekly sessions of increment only blitz (e.g. 3 + 2). Focus on playing “healthy” moves quickly rather than searching for the absolute best.
- Endgame conversion. When the fireworks finish, your technique sometimes stalls (e.g. in the French loss where 39…Rxa3! kept your passer but you flagged later). • Action plan: devote 15 minutes/day to rook-and-pawn drills on a trainer; rehearse the basic Lucena/Philidor setups until they become muscle memory.
- Handling of opposite-wing attacks. In several Sicilians you castle short while launching the typical …g6 Dragon set-up, yet pawn storms arrive faster than your counterplay (e.g. loss to Natalya_Buksa). • Action plan: add the classical Yugoslav model games to your study list; pay special attention to early …h5 ideas that slow g-pawn pushes.
Opening-Specific Tips
- Sicilian Dragon / Accelerated setups. Your 6…g6 line is sound, but after 9…Bg7 you can improve with 11…0-0 before launching …Qa5. This lets your rook join via c8 without losing a tempo later.
- French Schlechter (as White). Instead of 5. Bf3 you might explore the main line 5.Nd2, keeping pieces coordinated and dodging Black’s quick …c5/…Nc6 plan that cost you time in the loss vs Tekushka.
- Ruy López → Caro variation. In the 8…f6 game you punished …f6 excellently. One nugget: after 14.Rxe5+ you can often delay Bxf4 and play 15.d4! first, opening files while Black’s king is stuck.
Training Menu (4-Week Micro-Cycle)
| Day | Content | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Mon / Thu | Increment blitz & post-game self-review (no engine) | 60 min |
| Tue / Fri | Endgame drills (rook & pawn, bishop vs knight, basic king-and-pawn) | 30 min |
| Wed | Opening refresh – pick one recent loss and repair the line | 45 min |
| Weekend | Play one rapid (15 + 10) and annotate fully | 90 min |
Quick Stats & Visuals
Blitz peak: 2471 (2021-12-18)
Performance trends:
Game of the Week
The following miniature is a great reminder of how dangerous your initiative can be when you keep the pace high:
Inspirational Opponents
Revisit your duels with these strong rivals for fresh ideas: Lilit Mkrtchian, Nataliya Buksa.
Final Thoughts
Your creativity already places you among the top attacking players in online blitz. Tightening up the clock management and polishing a few technical endings could easily add the next 100-150 rating points. Keep enjoying the game and trust the process—great results will follow!