Hi Oleksandr!
You just rattled off a +5 –5 streak against titled opposition in Bullet Brawl 4250981. Your games remain unmistakably “Bortnyk”: razor-sharp openings, constant initiative hunting, and fearless piece activity. Below is a short performance review meant to keep those strengths while trimming a few recurring leaks.
What is working well
- Practical instincts in messy positions. Against Aswath S you steered an A45 sideline into double-minor-piece imbalance and won the clock race with 19 seconds to spare. Your feel for piece mobility still wins more games than any opening book ever will.
- Punishing loose king moves. Note how you caught Devina Devagharan with 21.Qh4+ followed by the h-pawn storm. The speed with which you recognise “king stuck in the centre = launch h-pawn” is elite.
- Conversion after material gain. Once up a piece against Haowen Xue, you simplified ruthlessly; resignation came on move 15. Keeping the finish clean saves precious seconds.
Recurring pain points
- Early queen sorties in Alekhine/Scandi structures. The Qh5-Qh3-Qh6 triangle (see the two losses vs Hikaru Nakamura) cost 5-6 tempi and let Black seize the centre with …c5 …Nc6 …Rd8. In bullet every tempo matters—consider replacing Qh5 with the calmer 6.Nf3 or 6.Bc4 systems.
- Calculating long diagonal counter-punches. Two defeats (vs Ediz Gürel, vs Alireza Firouzja) featured …Qa5/…Qa3 tactics hitting a3/f2. When your own queen leaves the back rank, add a half-second “scan the long diagonal” check before committing.
- End-game stamina in R + pawns vs R + pawns. Bullet end-games are often pre-move fests, yet twice you resigned drawn rook endings. A 10-minute daily drill with the “basic rook end-game” trainer will pay immediate dividends.
Illustrative moment
Critical position from the Old Benoni loss; the queen excursion left the back rank undefended and Black’s …Qa1+ started a forced sequence.
Concrete action plan
- Swap the Qh5 Alekhine line for 6.Nf3, play 20 blitz games, and keep a score sheet. If the win-rate improves ≥5 %, make the switch permanent.
- Five-minute daily tactic set focused on …Qa5/Qa3 double attacks.
- End every session with one 3-minute “rook & pawns vs rook” bot spar to ingrain pre-move patterns (Lucena, Philidor, V-cut-off).
Motivation corner
Current personal best: 3367 (2021-10-01). Let’s set the next milestone 100 points higher—totally doable once the queen-tempo issue is patched.
Keep playing with that trademark energy, but give yourself one extra heartbeat for diagonal tactics. See you on the leaderboard!