Coach Chesswick
Hi KTK97 — personalised feedback from your recent games
Quick stats
Peak Rapid rating: 1578 (2025-05-27)
Activity overview:
Your current strengths
- Tactical alertness. In your Scotch win you spotted 12.Nc7+! and converted the initiative all the way to 51.Qh8#. Good eye for forks and skewers.
- Central pawn breaks. The d4–d5 push against Owen’s Defence (win vs. ehsanshaukat) showed good sense of timing; you opened lines before your opponent castled.
- Piece activity when ahead. Once you are a pawn up you usually place rooks on open files and queens on active diagonals, e.g. the 22.Rxd8+ exchange simplifying into a won ending.
Recurring problems to fix
-
Loose king safety in the early middlegame.
• Loss vs. Rjmanville: 6…h6 7.Bh4 g5 left dark-square holes; after 10…Ba6 you had no development and the h-file attack collapsed quickly.
• In several Caro-Kann games you allowedQa5+/Qb4+shots (e.g. Anya_foja). Early queen checks cost tempi and expose your king.
Training task: before playing any pawn move in front of your king, spend an extra three seconds asking “What squares become weak?”. -
Under-estimating counterplay when a tempo down.
In the loss vs. CestleEmongate you grabbed theBxc7pawn but missed …Qd4+and …Qxa1. This is a classic case of ignoring your opponent’s forcing moves.
Drill: add “opponent checks, captures, threats” to every calculation branch — a mini version of the CCT checklist. -
Time-management.
You lost on time twice last week. Your move-to-move pace is okay, but you spend long thinks in quiet positions and then blitz when it’s sharp.
Recommendation: Try the “30-20-10” rule in 10-minute games: keep at least 7:00 after move 15 and 5:00 after move 25. If you’re below that, simplify or speed up. -
Opening repertoire gaps with Black.
Opponents score well with the Exchange Caro-Kann and Owen’s Defence lines. Early moves where you struggled:
• 6…Qa5+without completing development.
• Allowing thed4-d5/c4-c5pawn wedge and landing in passive positions.
Action plan: spend one study session on each of these mini-lines, just 8-10 critical moves deep. Memorise typical plans (…Ne7-g6-f4, …c5breaks, safe development order vs.Bg5pin, etc.).
Targeted training menu (next two weeks)
| Day | Focus | Practical tip |
|---|---|---|
| Mon / Thu | 30 minutes tactics | Set a goal of 40 puzzles <45 seconds each; annotate every miss. |
| Tue | Endgame fundamentals | Review king-and-pawn vs. king; play out three “won rook endings” against an engine. |
| Wed | Opening clean-up | Build a flash-card for each critical Caro-Kann fork trick you’ve faced. |
| Weekend | Play two slow (15|10) games | After each, do a 15-minute self-review before turning on engine. |
A position worth revisiting
From your Owen’s win: after 17…Nxd3 18.Qxd3 Qc6 the engine suggests 19.d5! instead of 19.Ne4. Compare the evaluation swing after each continuation to appreciate the power of pawn breaks.
Interactive board:
Next milestone
With tighter king safety and basic Caro-Kann repairs, 1600+ rapid is realistic within a month.
Stay curious, keep analysing, and good luck at the board!