Murtas Kazhgaleyev GM

Hi Murtas!

Below is a summary of what is going well in your recent online games, followed by concrete, GM-level tweaks that should convert even more of your good positions into wins.

1. Quick Snapshot

• Current peak on the site: 2799 (2020-07-27)
• Activity pattern:
   

2. What You’re Already Doing Well

• Dynamic Piece Play. Your recent win against valik3504 shows typical Kazhgaleyev flair—rapid piece activation, thematic ...Rc8/c6 break, and exploiting weak dark squares on c3–e4.
• Flexibility in the Queen’s-Pawn Complex. Switching between King’s Indian setups and Slav–type ideas keeps opponents guessing and maximises practical chances in fast time controls.
• Practical Endgame Technique. Even with little time, you convert minor-piece endgames smoothly (e.g. 09-26 vs tigr888, where ...Nc4–Ra8–b4 created an unstoppable passer).

3. Recurrent Pain Points

1. Time Trouble → Tactical Oversights. Three of the five losses in the sample were either flag-outs or stemmed from blunders after dropping under 30 seconds. The game vs Stefani2000 is a textbook example.
2. Over-ambitious Pawn Thrusts with White. In the loss to fastestmindalive you combined h-pawn aggression with f4 without first neutralising Black’s counterplay. Once ...c4 came, the dark-square blockade (…Bb7/…Bc5) was inevitable.
3. Handling of Symmetrical Philidor/Philidor-type Structures as Black. The defeat against Shield12 shows hesitation about where to place the light-squared bishop, resulting in …Bd6–f8–c5–d6 tempo losses and an eventual space deficit.

4. Concrete Adjustments

4.1 Time Management Routine

• Aim to have >40 % of your initial time left by move 15. If you’re below that threshold, force yourself to play two moves solely on intuition to catch up.
• Use the increment! With “+2” and “+5” controls, spend the extra second to hit the clock immediately after a pre-calculated recapture.

4.2 Opening Tweaks

• As White vs the King’s Indian: Replace 6.Bg5 lines with the g3-Makogonov Hybrid (Bg2, Nf3, h3, Be3). It keeps the diagonal closed, so …c4 no longer gains a tempo.
• As Black vs 1.e4: Consider adding the Petrov or a direct …e5 Spanish line to cut down on Philidor practice games where you concede space.

4.3 Middlegame Focus

Study two themes that popped up repeatedly:

• Dark-Square Clamp: In several wins you used …Nd7–e5 & …c6 to dominate d4-c5. Convert this into an automatic plan by reviewing classic KID vs Fianchetto games.
• Exchange Sacrifices: Your successful …Rxa3! strike vs valik3504 was model. Create a flashcard set of similar rook-for-minor patterns to speed up recognition.

4.4 Endgame Conversion Drills

Although your technique is strong, try the following to shave seconds:

• Daily 10-minute session on minor-piece vs pawns endings—many of your blitz endings boil down to that.
• Switch to single-click move entry in settings if you haven’t already; it alone saves ~0.3 s per move.

5. Illustrative Moment

The critical turning point from the Makogonov loss (White). After 22.f4? Black seized the initiative with …Qd4!

6. Recommended Training Split (per week)

7. Next Step

Play one training match in the suggested KID g3 line and another in the Petrov. Send me the PGNs; we’ll compare your decision-making to today’s notes.

Good luck in your upcoming events—looking forward to seeing the “+1-0 =0” streaks return!