Quick overview
Nice session — you converted two wins (one with a promotion) and fought sharp, open positions. Your games show good tactical awareness and the ability to create concrete threats, but time management and a few technical decisions cost you in other games. Below are focused, practical suggestions you can use immediately.
What you're doing well
- Creating active piece play and targets — you consistently bring rooks and queens into the action and pressure loose pawns or weak squares.
- Turning complications into concrete advantages — in the game where you promoted, you kept the initiative and pushed a passed pawn to the end.
- Familiarity with sharp openers — you play lines from the Scandinavian Defense and aggressive central systems confidently, so you reach the middlegame with plans in mind.
- Spotting tactical shots under time pressure — several wins show you find forks, captures and simplifications even on the clock.
Most important areas to improve
- Time management: Two wins ended by opponent flag and several losses happened when the clock became an issue. You often spend key seconds early or in unclear positions and then rush at the end. Work on faster, practical decision-making and reserve time for the critical phase (moves 20–40).
- Endgame technique & conversions: You create passed pawns and material advantages but sometimes allow counterplay (rook infiltration, queen checks). Improving basic rook and queen endgames and technique converting a material edge will turn more games into clean wins.
- Choice of trade/simplification: In a couple of losses you traded into lines that left your pieces passive or handed the opponent activity down the board. Before simplifying, ask: “Does this trade reduce my opponent’s threats and increase my winning chances?”
- King safety vs queen checks: In one win the opponent was able to deliver many checking sequences against your king — you survived, but these sequences are risky. Improve defensive counting (checks and captures before a move) so you don’t walk into perpetual checks or tactical rebounds.
Concrete drills and habits (do these weekly)
- Time-control drill: play 5 games of 3+2 (or 5+3) and force yourself to keep 30–45 seconds for the critical middlegame. Focus on not dropping under 20s unless the opponent does first.
- Tactics routine: 20–40 puzzles per day (focus on forks, discovered attacks, and back-rank motifs). These recur in your games — sharper pattern recognition = quicker practical moves.
- Endgame practice: 10–15 minutes, 3 times per week — rook + pawn vs rook, queen vs rook, and basic king + pawn vs king techniques. Use quick drills where you must convert or defend with the clock running.
- Post-game review habit: after every loss, mark the one moment where the evaluation swung (a trade, a missed tactic, or a time blunder) and write a one-line improvement plan for that moment.
Game highlights — study these positions
Review these two games closely. The first is a clean example of keeping initiative and creating a promotion; the second shows where passive pieces and simplifications gave the opponent counterplay.
Win vs powerchess-2 — Scandinavian line, kept the queenside rolling and promoted:
Loss vs Donari Braxton — traded into a passive route; notice the rook activity and passed pawn play you let through:
Short, actionable checklist (next 7 days)
- Play 5 rapid games (5+3) and force a 30–40s reserve for the middlegame each game.
- Do 100 tactics (split into two sessions) focusing on forks and discovered checks.
- Study one rook endgame (Lucena / basic defense) and practice 5 positions from it.
- Pick one opening line you play (for example: Scandinavian Defense) and review 3 model games — focus on typical pawn breaks and piece placement.
Final note
You have the instincts and tactical speed to score in blitz — tighten up time handling and endgame technique and you'll convert many more of those promising positions into clean wins. If you want, I can produce a short training plan for the next month (tactics + endgames + timed practice) tailored to these games.