Coach Chesswick
Hi Nils, here’s some tailored feedback to help you climb beyond your current level!
1. Snapshot
- Peak Blitz rating: 2703 (2023-08-08)
- Biggest recent scalp: wins vs. BillieKimbah (2978) and AryanTari (2896)
- Main openings: Queen’s Gambit Declined, English/Modern set-ups with …g6, Sicilian French-type (…e6).
- Typical game length: 40–55 moves, often decided in mutual time trouble.
2. What’s already working
- Tactical alertness. Your win against Maxim Matlakov shows keen eye for intermezzos: 21.Rxc6! followed by fast pawn storms.
- Dynamic pawn play. You’re not afraid to push h- & g-pawns (e.g. 7.g4 vs. the King’s Indian) which keeps opponents on the back foot.
- Resilience under pressure. Several wins come from inferior or equal positions that you out-calculate in blitz scrambles.
3. Main growth areas
| Theme | Symptoms in games | Action plan |
|---|---|---|
| Clock management | Five of the last six losses were on time, often in winning or drawable endgames. | Play 10 min rapid sessions using a strict “move by 15 s” rule to ingrain quicker decision cycles; consider adding a larger increment (+2) in training. |
| Conversion technique | Vs. Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son you were two pawns up but let the K–N-pawn endgame slip. | Drill basic endings (K+P vs K, Lucena, Philidor) daily on a board; aim for 50 perfect drills per week. |
| Structured opening repertoire | Switches between Modern, Dutch, and Sicilian lead to valuable seconds spent recalling ideas. | Pick one main defense to 1.e4 and 1.d4 each; create flash-card trees with 3-move-deep plans and train them with spaced repetition. |
| Prophylaxis Prophylaxis | Allowing …Nb4 vs. Be3 lines & opposite-colored-bishop attacks (loss vs. kushagramohan). | After candidate move search, force yourself to ask “what can my opponent do next?” before playing. |
4. Illustrative moments
Study these two snippets; replay them slowly and try to verbalize why each move works/doesn’t:
Winning tactic vs. BillieKimbah (moves 20-28)
Time-trouble collapse vs. crescentmoon2411 (moves 38-50)
5. Weekly training template (2 hrs/day)
- Mon/Wed/Fri: 30 min opening flash cards → 30 min annotated master game in your lines → 1-hr rapid (15 + 10) with post-game notes.
- Tue/Thu: 45 min endgame drill → 30 min tactics (Puzzle Rush survival, cap at 3 runs) → 45 min blitz (3 + 2) focusing on clock discipline.
- Weekend: Review saved blitz games; label positions needing strategic plans vs. tactical calculation; seek sparring at slower time control.
6. Quick cues to remember during play
- 30-second rule: if you’ve spent 30 s and still can’t find a concrete win, pick the most stable move and play it.
- Pawns on both wings? Centralize the king before pushing further – avoids back-rank/time-pressure blunders.
- When ahead materially, exchange pieces first, then pawns.
Keep enjoying the game, and let me know how the next tournament goes. Good luck pushing past the 2700-blitz barrier!