Yuriy Kuzubov GM

Hi Yuriy! Here’s a focused review of your recent online games together with an action-plan to squeeze a few extra Elo points out of your already impressive level.

1. What’s working well

• Dynamic middlegame play. Your win against Axel Bachmann shows a trademark mix of piece activity (…Nxf4!) and tactical alertness. Converting material plus the initiative remains a key strength.
• Opening variety. You comfortably switch between 1…e5, Petroff, Berlin-inspired setups, and a flexible Reversed Sicilian as Black – useful for keeping opponents guessing.
• Pressure handling in tough positions. Several recent wins were scored in slightly worse or equal endgames where you out-calculated opponents in mutual time-trouble.

2. Recurrent issues

• Clock management. Five of your last seven losses were on time, including vs. Vidit Gujrathi and Nihal Sarin. Often you reached positions that are still objectively defensible but with < 10 seconds left.
  • In the Petroff vs Vidit (move 30–35) you spent 1′40″ on Nb8–a6–c7; all three moves were obvious structural maneuvers.
  • Against Nihal, 28…a3!? consumed ~30 s even though the pawn thrust is automatic once …a5–a4 has been played.
• Conversion technique when a pawn up. Both losses to hitaman (QGD) and Volodar_Murzin feature extra pawns or the exchange, yet the advantage slipped after forcing pawn pushes (e.g. 57.c5? in the A47). Endgames with pawns on both wings + rooks appear especially tricky.
• Occasional opening shortcuts. In the Petroff, 12…Qd7?! gave White easy centralization. In the A17 English you fell behind after 17.f4 because the topical 17…Qh4 was played without the preparatory …f6 to restrain the e5 break.

3. Immediate fixes

1. Adopt a “one glance, one move” rule for non-critical positions. Commit to moving within 5 seconds when:
   • The position is quiet and the candidate move is forced or completely obvious.
2. Endgame drill – rook & pawn technique.
   • Spend 15 min daily on 4-pawn vs 3-pawn same-side rook endgames until you can convert under 30 seconds.
   • Replay your own endgames in Blitz mode, starting from move 30 with 2 minutes on the clock.
3. Light-touch opening maintenance.
   • Add the modern 10…Re8 line in the Petroff (after 9.Nbd2) to cut down early middlegame think-time.
   • Versus 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 b6 (A47) rethink the pawn structure plans; consider transposing to a Queen’s Indian with …e6 and …Bb4+ to avoid the slow d5-dxe4 structures that cost time on the clock.

4. Deep-dive homework

• Analyse with an engine the critical moment 31…fxg6? in the Vidit game and find a practical alternative that keeps the queens on (hint: 31…Bxg5!). Store the resulting file in your “Time-trouble fixes” folder.
• Play out the following sparring position 10 times vs. the engine at 5 min + 5 s:
  
  . Track how many times you convert the extra pawn.

5. Suggested study cadence

6. Progress tracking

Keep an eye on:

• Your hourly performance graph
  – aim to flatten the late-game dip.
• Mid-week consistency via
  (ideally no spike-and-crash pattern).
• Personal benchmark: regain 2993 (2024-02-13) within four weeks.

7. Final thoughts

You already possess world-class calculation skills; ironing out clock handling and standardizing a few late-opening decisions will translate those skills into more wins and fewer heartbreaking flag-outs. Tiny tweaks – big rating gains. Good luck!