Coach Chesswick
Hi Farid Firmansyah!
You play energetic, ambitious chess that regularly breaks your opponents’ resistance early. Below is a quick data glimpse, followed by targeted feedback.
Activity snapshots:
Current personal record:
What is already working
- Opening variety & surprise value. You move comfortably between the Slav, Caro-Kann and Indian setups, so rivals rarely steer you into a single preparation line.
- Willingness to unbalance positions. Examples such as 5…gxf6 in the Slav or the early …h5/…h4 thrusts show healthy fighting spirit—often rewarded by tactical shots (see mini-highlight below).
- Tactic spotting under time pressure. Your win against morethanepic1 featured a clean liquidation into a winning ending despite both clocks ticking below a minute.
Mini-highlight
The next fragment shows how quickly you convert once you gain the initiative:
Key areas to improve
- Queen safety and over-extension.
In your loss to stefan_95 (Accelerated London) the queen jump to f4 (12…Qxf4) won a pawn but cost tempi; White seized files and the initiative. Before grabbing material ask “Can my queen be harassed by minor pieces or pawn storms next move?”. - Pawn-storm timing.
The thematic …h5/…h4 pushes are powerful, yet twice they appeared before completing development and king safety, allowing counterplay on the central files. Remember the classic order: open files → bring pieces → push pawns. - Light-square weaknesses.
Several defeats featured knights occupying outposts like d5/e5 or bishops slicing along the long diagonal after you advanced queenside pawns. Strengthen your grasp of the Outpost concept and be ready to contest those squares with timely …c6/c5 or piece trades. - Prophylaxis & candidate-move discipline.
Fast games tempt us to calculate only our own ideas. Add one extra scan for opponent threats (“If it were their move, what hurts me?”). This small habit would have spotted moves like 31.Qxa5 in your London-loss a half-move earlier.
Action plan for the next two weeks
- Daily micro-drill (10 min): Load every defeat into an engine only after you have written down one missed tactical resource and one positional improvement. This strengthens self-diagnosis.
- Endgame conversion practice: In several wins you were clearly winning but needed many moves to deliver. Set up those final positions and play them against the computer at depth-limited strength to sharpen your technique.
- Study pack:
- Chapter on prophylaxis from Dvoretsky’s “Positional Play”.
- 50 puzzles tagged “queen traps” on your favourite tactic trainer.
- Review of classical games featuring the Nimzo-Indian—focus on how Black restrains the e5/d5 breaks.
Mindset reminder
A sharp style is your strength—keep it! The goal is simply to add a dose of restraint so that your attacking chances arrive on your terms, not your opponent’s counter-punch.
Good luck, and see you at the board!