Coach Chesswick
Oscar, here’s a tailored training note based on your latest games (2639 (2019-11-05))
1. What you are doing very well ✅
- Ambitious openings. With Black you confidently choose the Modern Defense / Pirc structures; as White you vary between 1.e4 and the ultra-aggressive Bird's Opening. This keeps many opponents off balance and often gives you an early space advantage.
- Kingside initiative. In several wins (e.g. versus pepeveloso) you converted attacking chances with sacrifices on f7/f6 and swift queen–rook lifts. Your feel for mating nets is clearly above average.
- Dynamic pawn breaks. Timely strikes such as …d5 in the Modern and e5/e4 in your Bird games show you understand when to open lines for your bishops.
2. Recurring problems to iron out ⚠️
- Early queen adventures. Losses against Rebeca Jiménez Fernández and Esteve Mateu began when your queen hunted pawns (…Qxb2 / Qa3 or Qb6–b4) before development was complete. Consider the rule “three minors developed before the first queen sortie.”
- Light-square weaknesses in the Modern. Playing …Nh6–f7 and …c6 without …d6–e5 can leave d6 & e6 soft. Study model games by Kamsky & Radjabov in the Pirc to see how they reinforce those squares first.
- Time management. You often reach move-25 with <20 seconds. Many strong positions have slipped (see the resignation vs ST-Sandavagur) because you ran out of calculation time. Adopt a simple 20-40-20 rule: spend 20 % of the clock on the first 10 moves, 40 % from move 11–20, and keep 40 % for the rest.
- Technique in won endgames. The win vs Pedragerd was won on time, yet the rook-pawn ending was still tricky. Drill basic rook endings (Lasker, Lucena, Philidor) 15 minutes/day for a fortnight.
3. Concrete opening tweaks 🛠️
| Your move | Upgrade to study |
|---|---|
| Bird: 5.Nh3 & 8.Nf2 | Try 5.Nf3! & 6.c4, the “Larsen-Kasparov” setup – keeps quicker pressure and cuts …e5 ideas. |
| Modern: …Qb6 vs 4.Be3 | Replace with 4…a6 5.Qd2 b5!? (the “Tiger Modern”) – safer queen, same counter-punch. |
| Pirc vs 4.f4 | Study the plan …c5 & …d5 in one go (Carlsen-style) instead of the slower …Nh6–f7. |
4. Tactical workout of the week 🧩
Set up the position after 17…d5 in your win against pepeveloso:
Try to find both the best defensive move for Black and the fastest mate for White. Limiting “one-move optimism” will save you half a point each session.
5. Two-week action plan 📅
- Review each loss with engine, but spend twice as much time asking “
what was my decision-making process?
” as you do hunting tactics. - Play five 10|0 games this weekend – same openings – focussing only on king safety before pawn grabs.
- Daily routine: 10 mins tactics, 10 mins rook-endgame drill, 5 mins visualisation (boardless replay of your most recent win).
Keep the creativity, but anchor it with a touch more discipline and you’ll push into the next rating bracket very soon. 💪