Coach Chesswick
Hi Michael!
You have an energetic, initiative–oriented style that regularly produces tactical fireworks and picturesque checkmates. Your recent wins with 14.Qxc8# and the rook-battery finish against jvincerrim show you are never afraid to calculate sharp lines.
What you’re doing well
- Opening consistency. As Black you trust the French Defence; as White you nearly always begin 1.e4 and aim for open positions. Sticking to a compact repertoire speeds improvement.
- Tactical alertness. Double attacks such as 31…Rxf2+ (vs DBabylon) or 11…Nf4 (vs WasteManagement37) demonstrate good pattern recognition.
- Practical fighting spirit. You are comfortable sacrificing material for activity and rarely agree to draws in messy positions.
Main growth areas
-
King safety & premature queen raids.
In several losses the queen went pawn-hunting while your own monarch remained in the centre (e.g. 7…Qxd4? vs enderschaos). Follow the basic opening checklist: develop, castle, then calculate raids. -
Calculation depth—“one more move.”
You often spot the first tactic but miss the refutation. The diagram below shows a decisive fork you overlooked: -
End-game conversion.
Games against giovan05 and smaisal reached roughly equal late-middlegames, yet collapsed after pawns were left en-prise or rooks became passive. Basic rook-ending technique will save many half-points. -
Clock management.
More than half of your live losses feature <30 seconds on your clock while the opponent still had minutes. Try a slightly slower time-control once per session to break the blitz-reflex habit.
Concrete training plan
- Daily tactics routine: 20–30 themed puzzles (forks, pins, & mating nets). Focus on full-line calculation until the position is quiet.
- Model games: Annotate one classical French Defence every weekend (start with Botvinnik–Portisch 1968). Identify how Black completes development and strikes back in the centre.
- Post-game checklist: After each session, answer: “Did I castle before move 10?” – “Did I leave pieces en-prise?” – “Did I consider all checks & captures for both sides?” Logging the answers for 20 games will reveal patterns quickly.
Quick reference
• Peak Rapid rating: 1457 (2024-02-12)
• Glossary booster: review the idea of the zwischenzug—many of your missed tactics are hidden intermediate moves.
• When you feel stuck, browse performance by day:
Next steps
Schedule two 15 + 10 rapid games this week and apply the calmer, king-safety-first approach. Send me the PGNs and we’ll measure progress. Keep the pieces active, trust your calculation, and always look one more move deeper!