Maria Ester Mencos Castillo WIM

Hi Maria Ester!

Great work on your recent games – it’s clear you enjoy sharp, fighting positions and you’ve collected some nice attacking wins, such as your latest checkmate against Sergio Ibarra. Below is a snapshot of your progress and some ideas to help you keep climbing.

What you’re doing well

• Tactical Awareness. In several victories you uncovered forks, pins and mating nets (e.g. 20…Qg3+!! in your most recent win). Your eye for cheapos and double–attacks is a big asset at this level.
• Active Piece Play. You often place pieces aggressively (♘f5, ♗g5, queen on h5) which creates practical problems for opponents who are not fully developed.
• Opening Variety. You’ve tried both 1.e4 and 1.d4 with White and answer 1.e4 with Caro-Kann, Sicilian and French-like structures as Black. Experimentation is good for learning pattern recognition.
• Rating Trend. 976 (2025-03-20) and 1853 (2021-03-06) are slowly edging upward – keep the momentum!

Main improvement themes

1. Time Management. A high percentage of your losses are flagged “lost on time”. Try:
   • Playing a few rapid (10 | 0 or 15 | 10) games to practise thinking without constant time pressure.
   • Using a move-check routine: “Threats? Checks? Captures?” for 5-10 seconds each move to avoid burning minutes on one decision.
2. King Safety & Pawn Hygiene. Several defeats came after pushing too many flank pawns (h- or g-pawns) early, leaving dark-square holes around your king. Balance aggression with safety: develop, castle, connect rooks, then launch pawns.
3. Endgame Technique. When you reach rook endings (e.g. your loss vs NotVietnamese) you sometimes allow passive rooks and advanced passed pawns for the opponent. Study the “rook behind the passed pawn” rule and practise basic king + pawn endings.
4. Converting Advantages. In several winning positions you kept attacking instead of simplifying. When up material, look for exchanges that steer the game into a winning endgame. Remember the concept of zwischenzug and tempo moves to trade on your terms.

Opening focus for the next month

Target drills

• 15 daily puzzles focusing on forks & pins.
• 1 endgame lesson per week (start with “Rook vs. Pawns”).
• Analyse each game for 5 minutes: write one sentence on what you would change.

Useful visuals

Explore your play-time habits and see when you perform best:

Annotated highlight

Here’s the critical attacking sequence from your latest win – play it through and notice how every move increases pressure:

Next steps

Keep enjoying chess! With sharper time management and a bit more attention to king safety, you’re on track to break 1000 very soon. Let me know when you smash that milestone – we’ll set new goals together.

Good luck and happy studying!