Marcal Gomez Navais CM

Quick summary

Good session, Marcal — you generate activity and concrete targets well, but time trouble and recurring king-safety problems are costing you close games. Focused tactical drills, a short opening cheat-sheet, and simple bullet-specific habits will turn many of those losses into wins.

What you're doing well

• Active play: you bring rooks and bishops to useful squares quickly and look for infiltration on open files.
• Creating passed pawns: in your win vs Denis Shurakov you converted queenside pressure into a passed pawn and reduced counterplay effectively.
• Practical intuition in chaos: you play naturally in messy positions, which makes you dangerous in bullet time controls.
• Opening variety gives surprise value — your frequent use of the Alekhine Defense is paying off tactically.

Key weaknesses to fix (high impact)

• Time management — several games end or decay in severe clock pressure. That -93 rating shift last month points to this as a major factor.
• King safety and mating nets — repeated queen checks and back-rank threats (see the loss vs Raffael Chess) show you need faster king-safety checks.
• Allowing queen infiltration — when the opponent’s queen gets active, you sometimes fail to trade or create luft quickly.
• Some opening lines (e.g., certain French and Colle structures) leave you passive; pick fewer lines and learn the core plans so decisions in bullet are automatic.

Concrete weekly training plan

• Daily (10–15 min) — tactics: focus on mating patterns, queen forks, pins, and discovered checks (prioritize puzzles that end with mate or decisive material win).
• 3×/week (15 min) — endgame drills: king+pawn races, basic rook endgames, and queen vs pawn promotion races.
• Weekly (30–45 min) — openings: pick 2 main systems (your Alekhine + one solid defense). Make a 1-page cheat-sheet with typical pawn breaks, common middlegame plans, and two tactical pitfalls to avoid.
• Before bullet sessions — 5 min warm-up tactics, then 20 bullets with one constraint (e.g., “no premoves” or “trade queens when ahead”). Review 3 losses briefly after.

Bullet-specific habits (fast wins)

• If you’re low on time: simplify (trade queens if it reduces mating chances) and avoid speculative tactics that require long calculation.
• Use premoves sparingly — only for forced recaptures or clearly safe pawn pushes.
• Create an escape square (luft) when the opponent’s queen and rooks are nearby — a single pawn move can stop many mating nets.
• When ahead materially, exchange pieces and steer to simple endgames you know how to convert quickly.

Short mid-game checklist (use every move)

• Any immediate checks or sacrifices against my king? (Look first.)
• Do I have an escape square or luft for my king?
• Can I trade queens safely if under mating pressure?
• Is my last move creating new weaknesses around my king?
• Am I low on time? If yes → simplify and avoid complex tactics.

Personalized moments from recent games

• Win vs Denis Shurakov — you converted activity into a passed pawn and traded into reduced counterplay. That practical follow-through is exactly what wins bullet games.
• Loss vs Raffael Chess — the deciding motif was repeated queen checks and mate on g7. A faster defensive resource (giving luft or trading queens) would have neutralized the threat.
• Multiple games show the same pattern: strong piece play but vulnerabilities around the king. Fix the defensive checklist and your Strength Adjusted Win Rate (~48.6%) should tick up.

Quick drill list (do these today)

• 20 mate-in-2/3 puzzles (back rank, Greek gift, smothered mate).
• 10 endgame king+pawn race exercises (who promotes first?)
• 10 opening-middlegame patterns from the Alekhine Defense — know the plan for the minor pieces and the typical pawn breaks.

Next-session experiment (one-week test)

• Play 100 bullet games with a single rule: when ahead, always force at least one simplification (trade queens or a pair of rooks) within 6 moves. Track win rate change after 100 games.
• After each session, annotate 3 losses focusing only on "why the king was mated/attacked" — not every move, just the tactical trigger.

Want deeper help?

I can:

• Annotate 2 full games (move-by-move) and mark tactical turning points.
• Make a compact 2-week opening packet for your Alekhine + one defense with 10 themed tactics.
• Create a 30-minute warmup + drill plan you can run before every bullet session.

Which would you like first — a detailed review of the win vs Denis Shurakov or the loss vs Raffael Chess?