Coach Chesswick
Hi Dmitry!
First, congratulations on consistently playing at an elite level in 3 | 0. Your recent 2890-2895 peak blitz range 2916 (2025-05-09) is proof of both tactical sharpness and opening knowledge. Below is a concise review of what you’re doing well and where a little targeted work could convert more almost-wins into rating gains.
What’s working well
- Opening depth & range. Your Alapin (B22) and Advance Caro-Kann (B12) scored clean positional wins. The game vs.
negrosasis a model: quiet space-grab → 0-0 → central tension → favourable endgame. - Piece coordination in transitions. Notice how often your wins feature seamless shifts from the middlegame to technically won endgames (e.g.
Rxc4vs. Riley). Your feel for activating rooks behind passed pawns is excellent. - Hourly & daily rhythm. The conversion rate in the first half of each playing session is especially high.
Patterns in recent losses
- Clock management. Two of the last six losses were on time (vs.
Trig_King& Nicolas Checa). Both positions were defensible, but you slipped under 10 s while trying to find “best” moves. Practical tip: in pure rook-pawn endings, trust general principles, play instantly, and save calculation time for critical forks. - Over-expansion vs. solid setups. In the Grunfeld loss to
WhooopsIDidItAgain, 22…Rfd8? left thec6-e6complex weak. The pawn push h3-h4 in your French Tarrasch also invited …Bd6/*…g5* before you’d completed development. Try adding one slower, consolidating move to your “launch sequence” when the opponent hasn’t committed yet. - Minor-piece endgames. The Berlin ending vs.
Trig_Kingbecame tricky after 30…Rf5. Your knight was magnificent but your king lagged. A quick centralisation (Ke2-d3-e4) could have neutralised Black’s pawn majority.
Action plan (next two weeks)
| Theme | Exercise | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Clock handling | Play 20 games at 1 | 0 adopting a two-second moverule once the position is won |
≤ 5 % time forfeits |
| Rook + pawn endings | Work through the “Second Rank + outside passer” chapter in Dvoretsky/Endgame Manual, then test on Lichess trainer | 80 % success rate in drills |
| Anti-Grunfeld structure | Analyse 5 master games starting from your loss after 15…Qf5; build a miniature repertoire note |
Have a clear plan for the b4-c6 clamp |
Quick opening tweaks
- As Black vs. 1.e4: Your Chekhover Sicilian (B53) is fine, but consider flipping move order with 5…Qc7 instead of 5…Bg7 to avoid early
Bb5pins. - As White vs. French: In the 15…
e4!line, slide your queen to e2-c4 faster; this keeps pressure on d5 and discourages …b5.
Mindset nugget
“Good blitz is calculated intuition.”
You already calculate superbly; trust your intuition a bit sooner and the clock will thank you.
Good luck pushing toward 2900+, Dmitry. Feel free to shoot me any specific positions you’d like reviewed more deeply.