Андрей Никитин GM

Андрей Никитин – Constructive Feedback on Recent Games

Strengths:

• Opening Knowledge: You demonstrate good familiarity with mainline openings, such as the Slav Defense and Sicilian variations, consistently developing pieces to natural squares early.
• Active Piece Play: Your recent wins show you actively seek initiative, often improving your pieces and targeting opponent weaknesses effectively.
• Endgame Technique: Some wins ended with clean tactical finish or checkmate, indicating sharpness in converting advantages.

Areas for Improvement:

• Time Management: In your latest loss, you were flagged on time. Try to balance your thinking time better, especially in complex or tactical positions, to avoid losing due to time pressure.
• Handling Pawn Structures: In a few games, pawn breaks and central tension could have been better managed. Pay attention to pawn structure plans and when to initiate or delay exchanges.
• Piece Coordination Under Pressure: Some losses highlight challenges in coordinating pieces during an attack or defense. Work on tactical puzzles and pattern recognition to strengthen calculation under time constraints.

Specific Suggestions:

• Review key moments from your recent wins, such as the move 31. Nxe6 in the Slav game where you seized an initiative – try to understand the strategic ideas behind it.
• In the loss against BobLazarElement115, note the endgame difficulties – improving awareness in rook and king endgames will be beneficial.
• Use boblazarelement115’s games as practice for defensive technique and time management skills.

Practice Recommendations:

• Focus on middle-game plans that complement your openings — developing thematic plans for pawn breaks and piece placement will boost consistency.
• Incorporate regular endgame drills, especially on minor piece and rook endings.
• Analyze games critically — identify moves where you spent too much time or missed tactical shots.

Keep working consistently and balance your strategic understanding with sharp tactics. Your active style is a great asset, and with improved time control and precise calculation, you will continue to climb the rating ladder.