Manny Yu

Hi Manny, here’s a personalized review of your recent play

Quick Snapshot

• Current peak: 1315 (2013-08-03)
• Most common openings as White: Queen’s Pawn with early c4 / g3 set-ups.
• Most common openings faced as Black: Trompowsky (2.Bg5), Bird’s (1.f4), and assorted flank systems.
• Playing rhythm:

Your Core Strengths

• Piece activity in closed centres. When the centre is locked (…d6–e5 vs d4–d5) you consistently manoeuvre knights and bishops to strong squares (e.g. 16.Ne4! in multiple Old-Indian games).
• Pressure on the f-file. The f-pawn pushes in your wins (f4 / f5) created decisive kingside breaks.
• Tactical alertness—when you have time. Several wins were finished with tactics like 18.Ng5+!! and 35.Qf2! defusing Black’s perpetual checks.

Key Improvement Areas

1. Time management. Five of your six most recent losses were on time in roughly equal or even better positions.
   • Entering Zeitnot with 5-10 moves still to make causes blunders and missed wins.
   • Often you spend 15-20 seconds on routine recaptures (21…Bxf1?? in the Trompowsky game). Aim for a “lighting-fast” decision on forced moves.
2. Defence vs early Bg5/Bird systems.
   • In the loss to 1.f4 (diagram below) the plan …Nh6–f7–g5 blocked your own king and ceded dark squares.
   • Against the Trompowsky you allowed 19.Nxe4! with a collapsing centre.
   • Study practical antidotes: 2…Ne4 against Trompowsky, and the solid …d5/…e6 setups vs Bird’s.
3. Converting material. In several wins you were a piece up yet the opponent escaped into drawing tricks because your pieces lacked coordination. Simplify early when clearly ahead.

Critical Moment Breakdown

From your Bird’s-Opening loss: Black to move, but White’s initiative is overwhelming.

• 20…Bb5! or 20…c4! was needed to free your pieces.
• The game move 20…Rc8? left all your pieces on the back rank and the dark squares fatally weak.

Action Plan for the Next Two Weeks

• Five-minute drill. Play five daily 3-min unrated games where the only goal is to keep ≥15 s on the clock after every 10 moves. Track progress in a sheet.
• Opening patch-work. Spend one hour on each of these mini-repertoires:
  • vs Trompowsky: 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4 3.Bf4 d5 → equalises fast.
  • vs Bird’s: 1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 c6 and delay …Nf6 until the centre is fixed.
• Convert-the-extra-piece studies. Solve 10 endgame miniatures where you’re up a piece (lichess.org/practice/… or Chess.com Drills). Focus on piece coordination and trading.
• Weekly self-review. After every session, tag one game with “Good Time-Use” and one with “Bad Time-Use”. The quick visual cue will reinforce habits.

Keep it up!

Small, targeted adjustments—especially faster forced-move decisions and a safety-first setup against early Bg5/Bird—will translate into 50-100 Elo very quickly. Happy training!