Miodrag Savic GM

Hi Miodrag!

Congratulations on maintaining a 2873 (2019-11-27) north of 2700 – proof of your strong opening preparation and tactical alertness. Below is a quick performance snapshot followed by concrete, actionable advice.

Your Activity at a Glance

• When are you at your sharpest? →

What You’re Doing Particularly Well

• Opening variety  – Your repertoire ranges from the Scandinavian and Caro-Kann as Black to the French Advance and Alapin as White, making you hard to prepare for.
• Tactical alertness  – Many wins feature clean calculation (e.g. the exchange sacrifices in the win vs MrTattaglia).
• Practical instincts  – You willingly enter messy positions where your opponents collapse under pressure.

Recurring Issues to Tackle

• Clock management (zeitnot). One recent loss vs Gloomy_Wanderer was on time, and several wins were converted with <10 s remaining. Long forcing lines are great, but not if they leave you flagging.
• Converting advantages. In the French Advance loss vs PavlovDanila you were two pawns up (after 25.Qh3+) yet couldn’t finish because of low time and king exposure.
• King safety in early middlegame. Examples:
  • Ruy Lopez vs MrTattaglia – the thrust 18.g4?! invited a counter on the dark squares.
  • French Advance (Black) – 14…f5 created holes that White exploited with 20.Rxf6+.

Targeted Recommendations

1. Adopt a “40-20-20-20” time split.
   Use roughly 40 % of your time on moves 1-10 (opening traps), 20 % on moves 11-20 (critical middlegame decisions) and keep 40 % for the remaining game. This alone will avoid most zeitnot disasters.
2. Simplify won positions sooner.
   In blitz, opt for the cleanest technical win rather than the flashiest. When two pieces are en-prise, choose the recapture that forces exchanges and kills counter-play.
3. French Advance clean-up.
   A quick repertoire patch: after 3.e5 c5 4.c3, study the modern 6.Be3 & 7.Bd3 lines instead of the Na4-b5 plan. They keep the king safer and lead to simpler structures.
4. Scandinavian fine-tuning.
   In several games you spent tempos with …Qa5–…Qd8 (or …Qd8–…Qa5). Consider 3…Qd6 lines; they avoid the queen dance and keep development smoother.
5. Weekly end-game sprint.
   Set aside 30 minutes, twice a week, for pure rook-and-pawn endings with 15-second increment. This will raise your conversion rate when the pieces come off the board.

Illustrative Moment

The critical slip vs Gloomy_Wanderer (diagram after 38.Kc1 … Rb8): you were still objectively equal, but 39.Nd1? (trying to untangle) allowed 39…Bb5! sealing the queenside. A calmer 39.e4! would have fixed the pawns and held easily.

Full sequence for review:

Next Steps

• Pair each blitz session with 10-15 minutes of slow tactical puzzles to keep calculation crisp.
• Revisit and annotate your losses against players you face frequently – e.g. PavlovDanila. Preparing targeted ideas will boost confidence in rematches.
• Set a measurable goal: “Finish the next 50 blitz games with ≥15 s on the clock in winning positions.” Track and adjust.

You are already performing at an elite level; a few refinements in clock handling and king safety will push that rating ceiling even higher. Good luck, and keep the pressure on!