Shreyas Royal GM

Hi Shreyas!

You’ve played a huge volume of games recently, especially in Chess960. Overall your tactical alertness and willingness to seize the initiative stand out, but a few recurring patterns are costing you half-points. Below is a concise “report card” followed by concrete training ideas.

Current snapshot:
• Best blitz rating so far:
• Typical activity graphs:

What you already do well

• Fast centralisation & castling. In several Chess960 wins you managed to castle on move 1–2 (Nb3 / O-O-O, etc.), immediately removing king-safety headaches while the opponent was still finding their bearings.
• Creating double threats. Tactics such as …Qa3, …Na3# in your recent win over KogotBobra17 show very good awareness of “two-fer” ideas ( mate + piece ). Your opponents often resign once the shot lands.
• Converting material in open positions. Once a file is opened you rarely hesitate to occupy it with heavy pieces, and your calculation from move 28 onward in the English win (vs IAMSHOCKED) was crisp.

Priority growth areas

1. H-pawn adventures. Many of your losses (e.g. vs Alberto Barp and argentum049) begin with early

   . Kicking a knight is tempting, but it exposes g- and h-files. Before pushing a rook-pawn, force yourself to verbalise one defensive resource for the opponent—this small pause will eliminate at least half the unsound storms.

2. Loose pieces & unfinished development. In the miniature below the exchange grab 13…Rxf3? left g7 fatally weak:
   Try adding a “loose-piece check” to your move routine (“Is anything I’m attacking/defending currently en prise?”).
3. End-of-game time pressure. Two endgames this week were lost on the clock from +2 positions (e.g. vs medzhyk). With a 1-second increment you only need ~5 seconds per move to survive. Practise finishing won king-and-pawn endgames against an engine using 10 seconds for the whole side; once you’re calm there, blitz increments will feel slow.
4. Prophylaxis habits. Opponents often land “annoying” zwischenzugs like …Bd4+ or …Qb2+ while you’re mid-attack. Read one chapter on prophylaxis (e.g. Dvoretsky, but any source works) and annotate three of your own games asking, “what was my opponent’s next threat?” each move.

Suggested weekly routine

Micro-skills to hone

• Use the 50-40-10 rule in unclear positions: 50 % of thinking time on own plans, 40 % on opponent replies, 10 % on “what if nothing works—do I have a safe bail-out?”
• When up material, exchange only the opponent’s best attacking piece, not automatically everything. (In two recent wins you traded down to R+P vs R when keeping queens would have mated sooner.)
• Catalogue key tactical motifs—fork, pin, skewer, zwischenzug, over-loading—create a personal flash-card deck and review five cards before every session.

Keep these notes handy and refer back after every batch of 20 games. You’re already strong tactically; combining that flair with steadier pawn structure and time handling will push you to the next rating band.

Good luck, keep enjoying the grind, and feel free to ping me after your next milestone!