Vitaly Meribanov IM

Hi Vitaly, here’s a focused review of your recent play and some concrete training ideas.

Key Strengths

• Initiative-oriented openings. Your wins with 1.e4 and 1.b4 show you enjoy steering the game into unbalanced structures early, often seizing the initiative before move 10.
• Piece activity. In the Polish win versus davib8 you kept every piece on its best square; note how 20.Be7!–27.d4! increased the pressure until resignation.
• Practical instincts in time trouble. You frequently convert with seconds left, e.g. 31.Rxe7+!! in the Accelerated Dragon miniature.

Recurring Issues

• Premature pawn advances in the centre. In the Nimzo-Indian loss you played 8.b3? while undeveloped; after …Bxc3 and …Bb4-b4 you were left with weaknesses and no plan. Similar centre loosening appeared in the 2020 Sicilian defeat (17.Qd4? 17…Bxc3!).
• Transition from attack to consolidation. Games you lose often pivot on over-pressing (see 2020 Benko Gambit decline: 22.Qd4? and later 32.Be5?); once the attack cools your king or back rank is vulnerable.
• Endgame technique vs equal material. In several older losses you reached roughly equal rook endings yet faltered (e.g. 2018 Berlin endgame). Your attacking intuition is strong; endgame fundamentals lag behind.
• Clock management in winning positions. A pattern of flagging while objectively winning persists (2018 timeout with an extra rook). Good instincts save many games, but tightening this leak pushes your ceiling higher.

Opening Repertoire Recommendations

• With White. Your results in open Sicilians and Anti-Sicilians are excellent. Keep 1.e4, but study anti-Nimzo lines: after 4.Qc2 or 4.a3 you avoid the doubled-pawn structure that hurt you.
• With Black. The Classical Sicilian & Benko are ambitious, yet your pawn sacrifices sometimes lack follow-up. Revisit key tabiyas with an engine and ask: “What is my next pawn break?”.

Action Plan (next 30 days)

1. Daily tactics. 20–30 high-rated puzzles focusing on defensive motifs (zwischenzug, back-rank, perpetual).
2. Endgame block. Alternate days:
   • King-pawn & rook-pawn basics (Silman’s “Basic Endgames”, chapters 1–4).
   • Practical rook endings: play the Kling–Horwitz defensive method 10 times vs engine.
3. Opening lab. Create a 15-line repertoire file vs Nimzo-Indian: pick one idea for each of 4…b6, 4…c5, 4…O-O. Drill with “guess-the-move” until you score 80%.
4. Clock discipline drill. Once per session, play a 3-minute game where you must spend at least 5 seconds on the first 15 moves. This habits you to think early, reducing later time scrambles.

Illustrative Games

Progress tracker

Peak Blitz rating: 2671 (2024-06-12)
Monitor improvement with:

Final Thought

You already have master-level tactical vision; pairing it with tighter structure management and steadier clock usage will make future climbs smoother. Good luck, and feel free to send me a few annotated games next week!