Nykolas Solodko

Overview

Nice work recently — your short-term trend is strongly positive (about +61 in the last month and +161 over three months). Your experience and volume are clear: lots of blitz practice, strong results in several opening families, and the ability to convert tactical chances. Below I’ll highlight what you do well, the recurring problems I see from the sample games, and a short training plan to keep your momentum going.

What you’re doing well

• Good opening familiarity and practical scoring in many systems (Scandinavian, Alekhine, Slav and several Queen’s Gambit lines). Keep using those strengths in blitz.
• Sharp tactical vision — in your Dec 24 win you seized central pawns and used queen infiltration to create decisive threats, then profited while the opponent was short on time.
• High game volume and resilience — you recover quickly from losses and maintain practical chances across time controls.

Recurring weaknesses and concrete examples

• Time management / blitz clock awareness — your Dec 24 win ended on the opponent’s flag. Winning on time shows good pressure, but relying on flag wins means missed opportunities to convert earlier. Work on avoiding big time scrambles in complex positions.
• Opening consistency in the Budapest/Alekhine lines — your Budapest-style games (e.g., the Dec 19 game vs pabliuski) show you sometimes grab material or play actively at the expense of development. Example: after the early exchanges the knight jumped to d3 and then to b2, winning material and leaving you exposed. Study the typical pawn breaks and piece placements in those lines to avoid these tactical shots.
• Allowing tactical forks and outposts — both in your loss and some other recent games the enemy knights found strong squares (d3, b2, etc.). Be careful with pawn pushes or exchanges that open those squares for enemy knights.
• Piece coordination and king safety — several positions show the queen or pieces out early while your king lags behind (creates targets for the opponent). When you go for material, check whether your king and pieces are safe first.

Practical, short-term plan (4 weeks)

• Daily (15–25 minutes): tactics trainer focused on forks, pins, and discovered attacks. Aim for pattern recognition — 20 puzzles/day with increasing difficulty.
• 3× per week (20–30 minutes): opening micro-work. For your Budapest / Alekhine lines, prepare 2–3 typical replies for each opponent idea (how you meet Ng4, ...Qb4, Nb4 ideas). Use short annotated lines and memorize one safe reaction that keeps you developed.
• 2× per week: 10 blitz games (3+0 or 5+0). After each session, tag 3 lost/won games to review and do a 3–5 minute post-mortem: “What was my last move thinking?” and “Which hanging tactical motif did I miss?”.
• Endgame drill (2× per week, 10–15 minutes): basic king + pawn, rook vs minor, back-rank avoidance patterns — these convert small advantages faster in blitz.
• Weekly: one 30–45 minute self-review using an engine only to verify your ideas — first try to explain each blunder in human terms, then check with engine for missed tactics.

Concrete in-game tips for your next blitz session

• If you have a development lead, trade queens to reduce opponent counterplay and simplify to a won endgame — trading when ahead on the clock is practical.
• Avoid long queen excursions that leave your pieces undeveloped. If your queen goes hunting, ensure the kingside is not vulnerable to forks or pins.
• When opponent offers a pawn grab in the opening (common in Budapest/Alekhine lines), ask: can I finish development first? If not, decline or prepare the capture with piece support.
• Use the first 10 seconds each game to pick a simple plan: fight for the center or play a safe line from your prep. That saves time later.
• Be cautious with pre-moves — only use them when the sequence is forced or you’re certain there’s no tactic.

Key positions to study

Review these two games and focus on the turning moments: tactical forks, knight outposts, and when you had the chance to trade down.

• Dec 24 — win vs soroush_gh8 (look at how you invaded with the queen and created mating/decisive threats):
• Dec 19 — loss vs pabliuski (note the knight jumping to d3 and then b2; identify when development lagged and the key inaccuracy):

Final notes — keep momentum

Your recent three-month surge is real — lean into it. Keep the tactics work sharp, shore up the Budapest/Alekhine lines so you don’t get surprised by knight forks and queen tactics, and tighten up your time management so you convert more wins without relying on flags. If you want, I can prepare a focused 7-day opening mini-packet for the Budapest line you play most often (common replies and traps + model games).