Coach Chesswick
Short summary
Great work lately — your rapid play shows a clear opening identity and a real knack for turning small advantages into decisive passed-pawn play. You’re improving steadily; keep the focus on a few concrete technical weaknesses and your rating will keep rising.
What you’re doing well
- Opening consistency: You stick to familiar setups (the Indian/Queen-side systems and the Amazon Attack family) and get playable positions out of the opening.
- Creating and pushing passed pawns: In your recent wins you convert a queenside passer effectively and restrict the enemy king — good planning in the endgame.
- Rook activity: You use rooks aggressively on open files and the seventh rank when possible, which creates real winning chances in many games.
- Practical calm under pressure: You converted one game when the opponent ran out of time and you pressured another opponent into resigning — good practical technique in rapid.
Most useful game example
Here’s a short replay of your recent win vs Julia Alboredo — watch how you neutralize counterplay and push the passed pawn:
Key opening moves (Indian-style setup):
Study purpose: observe the opening plan and how you pivot to a pawn push and rook activity.
Patterns to clean up (concrete)
- Avoid back-rank and 2nd-rank tactical problems: several games show your king becoming a target once pieces simplify. Simple prevention: a luft or a useful king move before exchanging into simplifications.
- Watch tactical shots around exchanged central pawns — some losses came after tactical breakthroughs (e.g., pawn breaks or rook infiltration). Slow down one extra tempo when the position simplifies.
- Rook vs rook + pawn endings: practice the basics (Lucena/Philidor ideas). You win when you create a passed pawn, but converting should be more routine and faster.
- Time management in complex positions: you’re comfortable in practical time scrambles, but avoid getting low on time in critical moments — allocate a 1–2 minute think on key branching moments (pawn breaks, major piece trades).
Concrete drills and study plan (next 4 weeks)
- Daily tactics (15–20 minutes): focus on rook tactics, skewers, and pawn-break combinations. Use a mix of 3–5 minute sessions and a 20-minute focused solving block.
- Endgame practice (2× week, 45–60 minutes): rook endgames and king + pawn vs king. Drill Lucena/Philidor and basic passed-pawn technique until it feels automatic.
- Opening refinement (1× week, 45 minutes): pick the two Amazon/Indian lines you play most and drill 5 typical plans for each side (pawn breaks, ideal piece placement). Use the notation Amazon Attack and Indian Game as your anchors.
- Post-game routine: after each rated rapid, spend 20 minutes doing a quick self-check — where did initiative change hands? Mark one tactical oversight and one positional plan to improve.
- Weekly review: pick one loss (for example vs Nazi Paikidze) and annotate the turning point. Identify the single move you would change and why.
Practical in-game checklist (rapid)
- Before any capture or exchange, ask: “Does this open a file for opponent’s rook or create a passed pawn for me?”
- If you have a pawn majority, trade pieces (not pawns) and centralize your king in the transition to the endgame.
- When ahead, simplify to a winning rook+king vs rook scenario only if you know the technique; otherwise keep pieces and press with the passer and active rooks.
- Use a 1–2 minute think on positions with multiple candidate pawn breaks — these are often decisive.
Next steps & measurable goals
- Short term (2 weeks): Solve 200 tactics, practice 10 rook endgame positions, and annotate 4 of your recent games (1 loss, 1 draw, 2 wins).
- Medium term (1–2 months): Make converting rook endgames a strength — aim to win 80% of practice positions where you have a passed pawn + rook vs rook.
- Performance goal: maintain the upward trend you’ve shown recently (you’ve had a strong months-long slope). Keep the same study rhythm and you should continue gaining rating points.
Where I recommend spending your study time first
- Rook endgame fundamentals (Lucena/Philidor) — highest immediate return on conversion.
- Tactical puzzles with emphasis on deflections, discovered checks, and rook penetrations.
- One focused opening session per week on your main systems — write down 3 plans you want to reach from move 10–20 and practice them in blitz.
Useful follow-ups (placeholders you can use)
- Replay your win vs Julia Alboredo and tag the exact moment the passed-pawn plan became unstoppable (use the PGN above).
- Analyze the loss vs Nazi Paikidze move-by-move and identify the tactical sequence that led to rook infiltration.
- Practice the Amazon Attack typical pawn breaks in live positions (10 practice blitz games focused on that opening).
Final encouragement
You have a solid foundation and a clear trend of improvement. Focus a little more on converting rook endgames and on tactical vigilance when simplifying — that two-part fix will take many of your close games from “uncertain” to “won.” Keep studying, keep annotating one loss per week, and enjoy the progress. Good luck, Oleiny!