Olga Artemyeva WFM

Personalised feedback for Olga “lelya96” Artemyeva

1. Strengths to keep building on

• Enterprising mindset. Your willingness to sacrifice (e.g. 5…Bxf2+ vs sau6on) shows courage and creativity. When the calculation is sound, this pays off – see your elegant finish against Plamen Stefanov.
• Consistent opening choices. Torre-style systems as White and flexible Two-Knights/Italian setups as Black give you a clear game plan and save clock time.
• Endgame technique. The conversion against chessvr (…Rh1#) displayed good rook-endgame skills: cutting the king, activating your rook first and pushing passed pawns.

2. Priority areas for improvement

1. Soundness of early sacrifices
   Unsound sacs cost two games on 14 Dec (5…Bxf2+ and ↯17…Ng4). Train with the “blunder check” rule: before playing any speculative strike, spend 5 seconds verifying the forced sequence. If you cannot prove you win material or attack, keep the piece.
   
   Critical moment example:
   . After 7.d4! White emerges with the extra piece. The sacrifice lacked sufficient justification.
2. Defensive vigilance & prophylaxis
   Several losses came after ignoring the opponent’s threats (e.g. 18…Qe5?? allowing 29.Qe6# vs chessllermo). Adopt the habit of asking “What does my opponent threaten?” every move. Study games by Karpov to improve prophylaxis.
3. Clock management
   Two time-forfeit losses in winning or equal positions indicate that pace, not chess skill, decided the result. Practical tips:
   • Aim to keep >50 % of your starting time after move 15.
   • Use the opponent’s think time to plan your next reply.
   • Play an instant “safe” move in severe trouble, then exploit the 1-second increment.

3. Opening adjustments

4. Tactical & calculation training plan

• Daily 30-minute puzzle rush or rated tactics focusing on motifs you missed (forks on f7/f2, under-promotion, back-rank mate).
• Once a week annotate one of your own games without engine, then compare – this trains calculation depth and error-spotting.
• Incorporate defensive puzzles; most of your slips were on the receiving end.

5. Psychological tips

• Your fighting spirit is a weapon – but balance it with restraint. Remember that accepting a draw in an inferior but holdable endgame saves rating.
• After a loss, take a 5-minute break. Statistics show your next-game blunder rate rises when you rematch instantly.

6. Progress tracker

Current blitz peak: 2502 (2020-02-19). Monitor your trend with:

7. Next-step homework

1. Revisit each loss from 14 Dec and write down the last correct move before the evaluation swung.
2. Study the chapter on “The initiative andtempo” in Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual.
3. Play three 15|10 games this week focusing only on time-usage discipline.

Keep up the hard work, Olga – the building blocks for 2300+ blitz are already there. Refine your decision-making and the rating will follow!