Toni Lazov IM

Hi Toni! Personalized Feedback & Training Plan

What’s Already Working

• Enterprising play. You willingly sacrifice material for activity, e.g. 21.Rxg6+! in your recent Grünfeld win.
• Tactical alertness. The Scotch masterpiece versus blueberrypiecherry (…Bxh3, …Qg3+) shows sharp calculation and pattern-recognition.
• Flexible repertoire. You switch between 1.d4/1.e4 and handle both Sicilian and Modern-type structures as Black, keeping opponents off balance.

Targeted Improvements

1. King safety during pawn storms.
   Losses in the Mengarini (B20) and Larsen Attack (A01) featured early …h5/…h4 pushes that back-fired.
   • Delay the pawn thrust until you are castled and central tension is resolved.
   • Ask “what if the center opens in two moves?” before advancing a wing pawn.
2. Material vs. initiative judgment.
   Grabbing pawns (…Bxb2, …Qxb2) without a follow-up let opponents activate rooks with Rxa7! and Rxb7!.
   • Rehearse positions where the side a pawn up is actually worse because of piece activity.
   • When unsure, remember the rule of thumb: one pawn = two tempi. If you lose more than two moves recovering, decline the pawn.
3. Clock management & conversion technique.
   Two recent defeats came in won endings—simply ran out of time.
   • Add a 5-minute “speed-convert” drill: start from +5 positions and finish with 10-second increment.
   • Adopt an “auto-simplify” policy: if ahead a piece, trade queens within three moves.
4. Structured Anti-1.e4 repertoire.
   You reach playable Sicilian middlegames but lack clear plans after move 10.
   • Pick one main line (e.g. Classical …Nc6/…d6) and learn typical breaks (…d5, …e5) rather than many off-beat branches.

Drills for the Coming Week

1. Solve 20 puzzles featuring deflection & zwischenzug motifs.
2. Self-analyse this key win without an engine first, then verify:
   
   
3. Review your performance curves:
   and
   ; schedule important games during peak hours.

Quick Stats

Peak blitz rating: 2787 (2024-12-18)
Peak rapid rating: 2286 (2020-05-30)

Next Milestone

Cutting average thinking time in winning positions by 20 % should net a ~+35 Elo gain within a month. Keep the king safe, respect material/tempo balance, and you’ll smash through your next rating barrier.

Good luck with the training, Toni—feel free to share any tricky positions anytime!