Coach Chesswick
Hi leaowl1! Here is some personalised feedback based on your recent games.
Your current profile at a glance
- Peak Blitz rating:
- Typical playing window: see
- Weekly performance trend:
What you are already doing very well
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Converting material advantages.
In your Daily win against Duo-bot (B80 Sicilian) you entered a queen + rook vs minor-pieces ending and converted methodically, centralising the king and creating outside passed pawns. Your end-game technique is clearly above average for your rating bracket. -
Sharp tactical awareness when you are the aggressor.
The win against Hotelschach (King’s Gambit Accepted) shows good memory of thematic ideas: …g5, …g4, …Bg4, and an excellent …Qxh4! shot that punished White’s loose king. Your calculation depth is sound when the initiative is yours. -
Flexible piece play in complex middlegames.
The maneuver 22…Rd6→…Rf6→…Rg6 in the win over A-Tini demonstrated nimble handling of rooks in an open position, turning defence into counter-attack.
Main improvement themes
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King safety before flank pawn pushes.
Your loss versus SteakWithSearedOnions arose after 20.g3?! which weakened f3–g2 and let Black uncork 21…Nf4+ 22.gxf4 Qg4+. Before advancing wing pawns, stop for a “king-safety check”:- Are any pieces left to defend the king?
- Does the pawn move create new dark/light-square holes?
- Could the opponent exploit the fresh lines within two moves? (quick tactics search)
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Handling early central tension in the Italian/Bird’s Attack.
The sequence 11.Nc4 d5! 12.Nxb6 Qxb6 gave Black central freedom and the initiative. Consider:- Delaying Nc4 until after you have castled and played Re1.
- Switching to d3 systems (e.g. 6.d3 7.Nbd2 8.0-0) when Black adopts a …d6/…a5 setup; this keeps the centre fluid and preserves your bishop pair.
- Studying model games by Carlsen-Caruana 2018 (Game 1 & 4) for modern Italian structures.
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Defending against unexpected piece sacrifices.
In the loss to GrandMasterUndiscovered you accepted 2…Nxe4 in the Reti/English, walked into e4-e5 with tempo and never recovered. Build a mental checklist:- When the opponent offers a pawn, quickly estimate material vs development.
- If accepting puts your king in the centre for >3 moves, decline or prepare.
- Use the “three-defender rule”: make sure the captured pawn is covered at least three times if the recapture opens files.
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Maintain time margins in quiet positions.
Several games show you dipping under 3 minutes by move 20 while the opponent still has >5 minutes. In positions without forcing tactics, adopt a ‘30-second ceiling’—if you have spent 30 sec and still cannot decide, choose the soundest of your top two candidate moves and move on.
Opening snapshots
Switching from Bird’s Attack to a solid d3-Italian
Key ideas: play h3 to control g4, Re1 followed by Be3 or Bb3, c3–d4 break only after completing development.Sicilian Scheveningen model you already played well
Continue studying modern plans with f2-f4-f5 and exchange sacrifice on f6 (see Nepomniachtchi–MVL, Zagreb 2019).Suggested training plan (4-week micro-cycle)
- Week 1 – King safety drills: 50 positions/day from a tactics set filtered for “mate-in-3 or defend-the-king”.
- Week 2 – Italian middlegame: Play 10 rapid games using only the quiet d3 system; annotate each with focus on pawn structure.
- Week 3 – Defensive technique: Solve 25 ‘save-the-game’ studies (e.g. end-game fortresses, perpetual motifs).
- Week 4 – Practical time management: Play 15 blitz (3 + 2) games with a strict 15-second move limit for the first 15 moves; afterwards review blunders caused by haste.