patzer-reloaded FM

Positive Aspects

Sandi, your recent blitz games show some strong points that are worth highlighting:

• You demonstrate good opening knowledge, particularly with the King's Indian Attack and French Defense, where your win rates are above 44%, with exceptional results in the King's Indian Attack: French Variation (win rate over 50%).
• Your tactical awareness is solid — in your recent win, you capitalized on an opponent’s king safety weaknesses and successfully executed a checkmate attack.
• You are comfortable transitioning into endgames and creating passed pawns and active king positions, as seen in the winning game where you pressed your material advantage confidently.
• In complex middlegame positions, you maintain strong piece activity and positional pressure, often forcing your opponent into defensive postures.

Areas for Improvement

In order to improve your blitz results and stabilize your rating, focus on the following:

• Time Management: Several of your losses and the timed losses suggest some difficulty in time control. Practice balancing quick moves with accuracy to avoid time scrambles.
• Handling Counterplay: In your loss with the Semi-Slav Defense, the opponent created strong counter threats on the queenside and through advanced passed pawns. Be cautious of allowing your opponent strong pawn breaks and keep an eye on fast promotions.
• Endgame Technique: Although you enter endgames well, some of your games indicate missed opportunities for simplifications or stronger king activity. Revising key theoretical endgames like rook and pawn endings can help secure these wins.
• Opening Repertoire Depth: While your openings like the King's Indian Attack perform well, some openings like the Pirc Defense: Austrian Attack have lower win rates (~39%). You could deepen your theory or choose lines that lead to more familiar structures to increase win chances.
• Consistency Under Pressure: Your rating over the last 3 months shows some fluctuations with a negative trend. Focus on stabilizing performance, possibly by analyzing losses carefully to identify typical mistakes under time pressure or complex positions.

Practical Suggestions

• Review and practice critical pawn endgames and rook endings to convert slight advantages more reliably.
• Use training tools to improve your intuition for when to simplify and when to keep tension, especially in openings where your win rate dips.
• Consider playing a few longer time control games to improve calculation and reduce blunders under blitz time constraints.
• Analyze your losses with a focus on moments where time pressure led to inaccuracies; develop a plan to play more confidently in the final minutes.
• Keep building on your strengths in active piece play and attacks on the enemy king, as these are valuable weapons in blitz.