lachaturanga WFM

Hi lachaturanga! 👋

You are a strong tactical player hovering around 2122 (2023-02-26) in blitz and 2117 (2021-10-31) in rapid. The charts below give a quick sense of when things go well:

What you’re already doing well

• Tactical alertness. Your 0-1 win against deltaaquarid shows how calmly you absorbed the Bxh7+ sacrifice and converted the extra material into mate.
• Practical end-game play. In several games you simplified into clearly winning rook­-and-pawn endings without letting the advantage slip.
• Healthy opening repertoire. With the White pieces you switch among the Alapin, French-Tarrasch ideas and classical Ruy Lopez plans, which keeps opponents guessing.
• Piece activity mindset. You rarely leave pieces undeveloped; even in complicated Sicilians your pieces hit central and kingside squares quickly.

Biggest improvement levers

• Time management. Two of your last four losses (e.g. vs BabyBoss31) were on the clock. Aim to reach move 20 with ≥½ your time, especially in 60 + 2 and 3 + 2 pools. Short drills with a beep every 10 seconds can hard-wire faster decision habits.
• King safety in the Sicilian/French hybrids. Games vs Talex20 and Dengmrefu show your king caught in the centre or on dark squares after …d5 breaks. Review the concept of “opposite-side castling race” and the value of the half-tempo (tempo).
• Transition choices. You sometimes trade queens into equal pawn structures when behind in development (e.g. BabyBoss31 23…Qxe6?). Add a “three-question pause” before every exchange: 1) Who benefits? 2) What squares get weaker? 3) Does it help my worst piece?
• Handling early surprises. The quick loss to Dengmrefu started after 5…e5?! into a prepared trap. Build a flash-card set of known sidelines to avoid using precious thinking time over-the-board.

Opening tune-ups

With White

• Alapin (2.c3 vs …c5): make sure you know the …d5 main line (2…d5 3.exd5 Qxd5) as well as you know the quieter …d6 plans.
• Versus the French you score well with the Rubinstein 4.Nxe4, but study the critical 4…Bd7 positional ideas so that you keep the bishop pair.

With Black

• Old Benoni / Franco-Benoni: the structure after 1.d4 c5 is unfamiliar to many White players, yet in your last game you drifted with 17…f6 ?. Consider the thematic break …b5 and place the queen on a5 or c7 instead.
• Against 1.e4 you bounce between the Modern, Sicilian and French. Choosing one “main” defence for blitz will save clock time; my suggestion is the French where your pawn structure knowledge is already decent.

Positional & Technical homework

1. Solve 15 mixed tactics a day at 20-second time limit to sharpen pattern recall.
2. Play at least one 15 | 10 rapid game per week focused solely on king safety and prophylaxis (prophylaxis).
3. End-game drill: rook + 4 vs 4 side pawns from both sides until you can hold or win with 30 seconds on the clock.

Illustrative moments

Counter-sacrifice success (Black vs DeltaAquarid)

Time-pressure slip (Black vs BabyBoss31)

Replay the positions above and ask yourself, “Which move did I spend the most time on, and was it worth it?” Over time this habit will align your clock usage with the critical moments of the game.

Next steps

• Schedule one “slow” session (45 + 15 or longer) each week to deepen calculation.
• Write a two-sentence summary after every rapid game: 1) my best decision, 2) one thing to fix. This reflection loop compounds quickly.
• Keep enjoying the game—your creative style is a weapon when paired with solid fundamentals!