Mikhail Bilous IM

Positive Highlights

Mikhail, your recent blitz games show some excellent traits and improvements:

• Opening Preparation: You have a solid understanding of various openings, such as the Queen's Gambit Declined, Slav Defense, and Sicilian Defense Moscow Variation. Your highest win rate is with the Moscow Variation, with over 66%, showing that your preparation there pays off well.
• Endgame Technique: Your recent win against Grandelicious featured a strong endgame performance where you converted a material advantage confidently and pressured your opponent effectively, forcing resignation.
• Positional Play: You often control the center and maintain good piece coordination, turning small advantages into wins. This is evident in your ability to create passed pawns in the endgame and leverage your knight and bishop activity effectively.
• Rating Progress: You have made significant progress recently, with a 1-month rating increase of 586 points and positive trend slopes over 1, 3, and 6 months, indicating your efforts are bearing fruit.

Areas for Improvement

To continue your progress and reduce losses, here are key areas to work on:

• Handling Strong Opponents: Your recent losses against very high-rated players show you sometimes get overwhelmed in complex middlegame positions, especially in sharp tactical battles. Spend time studying critical moments from these games to identify turning points.
• Time Management: Some games show you fell behind on the clock or made critical moves with under 10 seconds left, which increases mistakes. Try practicing time allocation and avoid complex decisions under severe time pressure.
• Mistake Reduction in Openings: While your opening repertoire is diverse, your win rates are lower in the Sicilian Najdorf and King's Indian Defense, where you face many strong counters. Review those systems and focus on typical tactical motifs and common traps.
• Endgame Precision: Even though you convert well when ahead, there is room to improve defending slightly worse positions and avoiding unnecessary exchanges that lead to losing endgames, such as some recent rapid losses in queen and rook endgames.

Suggestions for Your Training

• Analyze Your Losses: Use your game reviews to find recurring patterns causing losses, focusing on the middlegame tactics and time management aspects.
• Focused Opening Study: Deepen your preparation in openings with below 50% win rates like the Najdorf and King's Indian Defense. Solving puzzles and watching model games in these lines will boost confidence.
• Practice Endgames: Strengthen your knowledge of key theoretical endgames and practice defending inferior positions—this can prevent quick losses and secure more draws or counterattack opportunities.
• Train Time Management: Work on rapid and blitz time control games with an emphasis on consistent pacing, using increment to your advantage. Consider setting aside training for time-trouble situations.
• Play Strong Opponents: Challenge yourself regularly with higher-rated opponents but review these games thoroughly to turn losses into learning experiences.

Summary

Mikhail, you are showing excellent progress with strong recent results and a positive upward rating trend. By focusing on sharper opening preparation, managing your time better in clicks, and honing your endgame skills, you can reduce errors and gain more consistent wins against tough opponents. Keep up your balanced training approach and continue analyzing your games for improvement opportunities.