Coach Chesswick
Gloria, great hustle on the board!
Your current profile at a glance
Peak rating so far: 1396 (2020-07-31) | Performance curve:
| Best hour to play:Key strengths
- Natural attacker. In several wins you castled quickly, brought every piece forward and kept Black’s king under constant pressure (e.g. the Ruy-Lopez, Cozio game ending with 65.Qh2#).
- Tactical alertness. You spot forks and tactical shots such as 42.Nf5+!! which forced the king into a mating net. Keep sharpening this by solving daily puzzles.
- Open-file instincts. Doubled rooks on the e-file in multiple games and converted small advantages smoothly.
Growth opportunities
- Opening depth.
• With White you rely almost exclusively on 1.e4 and the Italian/Spanish structures. Add one “anti-Caro-Kann” weapon (the Advance with 4.c4 or the Panov-Botvinnik) so you’re not surprised when opponents play 1…c6.
• As Black, the Philidor and off-beat systems bring quick wins versus lower-rated opponents, but stronger players will squeeze space. A solid upgrade is the Classical 1…e5 repertoire versus 1.e4 and either the Queen’s Gambit Declined or KID versus 1.d4. Pick one and dig in. - King safety & pawn storms. Several losses feature early g- and h-pawn pushes (see the game vs. petquaclejoe) that weakened dark squares around your king. Try to ask “What am I weakening?” before every pawn move.
- End-game conversion. You reached won end-games but let them slip (resigning or flagging while still equal). Add 15 min/week of pure end-game study (basic rook-and-pawn, opposition, Zugzwang) and play out simplified positions against the computer.
- Time management. Two recent losses were on time or abandoned in balanced positions. Practise a “move-scan-commit” routine: 1. Candidate moves (10 sec), 2. Quick tactics scan (10 sec), 3. Commit & hit the clock. Staying consistent will keep 1–2 minutes in reserve for critical endings.
Action plan for the next 4 weeks
| Week | Main focus | Daily task (≈20 min) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Caro-Kann solutions with White | Watch one short video / read chapter; play two 10|5 games starting with 1.e4 c6. |
| 2 | King-safety habits | Review your last 10 games; annotate every pawn move, label “Necessary” or “Provocative”. |
| 3 | Rook-and-pawn endings | Do 10 end-game drills on Chess.com’s Drill section; replay Capablanca model games. |
| 4 | Time-management scrimmage | Play five 5|5 games focusing on the move-scan-commit routine; review only the last 2 minutes of each time-scramble. |
Inspirational clip from your latest win
The final tactic that wrapped up the Cozio game:
Keep the momentum!
Your creativity and fighting spirit are already strong. Combine them with a tighter opening repertoire, sound king safety and disciplined clock handling, and the next rating jump will follow quickly. I’m excited to watch your progress—good luck, Gloria!