Anca-Otilia Baciu WFM

Hi Anca-Otilia!

Congratulations on climbing above 2000 in rapid – that is no accident. A look at your last few games shows clear strengths but also some patterns you can tighten up. Below is a blend of praise, diagnosis and a concrete action-plan.

Your current profile

• Peak rapid rating: 2135 (2023-10-07) (nice milestone!)
• Typical openings
  • With White: 1.e4 aiming for open Sicilians and aggressive ♙f-breaks.
  • With Black: Scheveningen-style Sicilians, plus occasional French / Caro-Kann.
• Preferred style: Initiative-oriented. You are happy to sacrifice structure for piece activity.

What is already working

1. Conversion skill in technical phases.
   Your win over Ahmed7ebo shows patient, accurate technique once the queens were off:
   You kept checks going without blundering a perpetual – a common 2k blitz pitfall.
2. Tactical vision. In several wins (e.g. 19.f6!! versus jesterprinting) you spotted forcing lines that punished loose enemy kings.
3. Clock handling when ahead. In the games you won, the clock never dipped below ~30 s. Once the position was winning you accelerated instead of admiring it.

Where rating points are leaking

1. Pawn storms before king safety.
   In your loss to Alex-Draifinger you played …h5/…g5 while still behind in development and stuck in the centre. The open g-file ended up helping White.
2. Alapin & c3-Sicilian structures.
   Three recent losses started 1.e4 c5 2.c3/2.Nf3 e6 3.c3. The positions became closed, you lost space on the queenside and had no clear counterplay.
3. Critical-position time trouble.
   The loss on time against Jarda7777 came after you spent 90 s on 18…Nb6 and never recovered. Spending that long is fine if it solves the position; here it only led to a slightly worse endgame. A practical rule: if your next move cannot change the evaluation from =/≠ to ±/∓, cap yourself at 60 s and move on.

Illustrative slip

The turning point in the Alapin game occurred right here:

Black has the bishop pair and pressure, but the queenside is hanging by a thread. The move 22…Na5 walked into Qb4+ and cost a tempi chain. A calmer option was 22…Nxb4 † 23.Qxb4 Qe7 activating the queen while keeping the c-file covered.

Training menu for the next 6 weeks

Mindset reminder

“An attack works when every piece joins in; an early attack fails when they get stuck at home.”

Your attacking instinct is your super-power. Temper it with two extra developing moves and you will feel the elo jump.

Good luck & good skill!

— Your virtual coach

Bonus charts: