Coach Chesswick
Quick summary
Nice work, Mohamed — your recent blitz shows real tactical awareness and an ability to punish opponents who leave their king exposed. Your long-term rating trend is upward, even though the last month dipped a bit. Keep the momentum: small, targeted improvements in time management, opening plans, and endgames will convert more of your good positions into wins.
What you did well
- Active tactics and piece play — you seize attacking chances quickly. Example: in your win against friendvicky (Jan 27) you used a knight jump and subsequent captures to open lines toward the enemy king and finish with a decisive queen check.
- Good use of captures to remove defenders — several wins show you identifying the key defenders and trading them off before the final assault.
- Repertoire strengths — your results in the Amar Gambit and Australian Defense are solid; you know the typical plans and get good practical chances from those openings.
- Resilience — long history of steady play and many wins shows strong practical skill in blitz and the ability to bounce back after losses.
Main areas to improve
- Time management without increment — you often finish with under four minutes. In a five-minute game with no increment, avoid moving too fast in the opening and then getting into time trouble later. Practice keeping 1.5–2 minutes for the critical middlegame (where tactics and decisions matter most).
- Watch loose pieces and back-rank weaknesses — in your loss to Aldemar-Vigario (Jan 27) a tactical sequence left your material exposed and allowed a decisive capture. Slow down one extra second on candidate captures and checks to confirm there aren't tactical refutations.
- Endgame technique — your drawn game that ended by stalemate (stalemate vs harshanaikk (Jan 26)) shows you can reach winning endgames but need to convert more cleanly. Study basic king-and-pawn and rook endgames to raise conversion rate.
- Opening consistency — you have great results in a few openings but more mixed performance in others (Scandinavian, Amazon Attack: Siberian). Pick 2–3 core setups and deepen your typical middle-game plans there rather than switching too often in blitz.
Concrete next steps (weekly plan)
- Daily tactics (15–25 minutes): do mixed tactical puzzles; focus on pattern recognition (pins, forks, discovered attacks). Target: 30 correct puzzles per session with review of misses.
- Opening review (3× week, 15 minutes): pick your top 2 openings (for example Australian Defense and Amar Gambit). Learn one typical pawn break and one common tactical motif per opening — save these as short notes to review before blitz sessions.
- Endgame drills (2× week, 15–20 minutes): king + pawn vs king, basic rook endgames, and simple queen vs rook tactics. These pay huge dividends in converting games.
- Practical play (every session): play 5 focused blitz games where you force yourself to keep at least 90 seconds for move 20. After each session, pick 2 lost/won games and quickly review the critical moment (what candidate moves you missed).
Game-specific coaching notes
- Win vs friendvicky (Jan 27) — Review this win: You converted by opening the king and trading defenders. Strength: spotting the decisive breakthrough. Tip: after the breakthrough, plan the final mating or material-winning sequence before executing so you keep tempo and avoid counterplay.
- Loss vs Aldemar-Vigario (Jan 27) — Review this loss: A tactical exchange sequence turned the game. Focus: double-check captures near your king and be careful when trading into positions where your opponent’s queen or rooks gain activity.
- Stalemate draw vs harshanaikk (Jan 26) — Stalemate review: You reached a favorable material endgame but the finish was tricky. When ahead, prefer simple winning techniques (restrict the opponent’s king and use your king actively) and avoid unnecessary queen forking trades that can lead to stalemate scenarios.
Repertoire & stats takeaways
- Your overall strength-adjusted win rate is around 49.7% — almost even. That means small improvements in tactics + endgames can push your win rate noticeably upward.
- Play more of the openings where you have +50% results (Amar Gambit, Australian Defense, Slav). For the weaker lines (Scandinavian, Siberian Attack), study one typical trap and one defensive plan so you don’t get surprised.
- Your 12‑month rating slope is positive — keep doing what you already do, but add the targeted drills above to remove recurring mistakes.
Short checklist to use at the board
- Before every capture: ask “Does this leave any of my pieces hanging?”
- Before checks or forcing moves: check for the opponent’s counterchecks or forks.
- When ahead materially: simplify if safe, activate your king in the endgame, and avoid stalemate traps.
- Keep a reserve of time for move 20–30; these are the most tactical and decisive moves.
Placeholders & next actions
Open the specific games I referenced to replay the critical lines:
• Win vs friendvicky (Jan 27)
• Loss vs Aldemar-Vigario (Jan 27)
• Stalemate vs harshanaikk (Jan 26)
If you want, tell me which part of your game you’d like a short study pack for — tactics, one opening, or endgames — and I’ll give a 2‑week micro plan tailored to your schedule.