Coach Chesswick
Hi Pranit, great to see you playing so much!
What you already do well
- Activity & space: You usually bring several pieces forward quickly and aren’t afraid to grab central squares.
- Pawn-promotion technique: Your win against kalguderohan shows that you can shepherd passed pawns all the way to queening when you stay focused.
- Confidence in open positions: You willingly enter exchanges such as 5…Qxd8+ in the Caro-Kann, which keeps the play simple and reduces blunder-risk.
Recurring pain-points
- King safety before pawn storms.
In several losses (e.g. vs. thenetrider and akshaynair5) you played …f6/…g5/…h5 while your king was still in the centre. Castle first, storm later. - Over-optimistic piece sacs on f7/f2.
The Italian “Ng5+ sac” works only with very specific follow-ups. When Black calmly plays …Be6 you often end up a piece down. - Tactical blunders in the middlegame.
In the Scandinavian loss to zer0iqplayer you missed both the mate threat on c7 and the simple in-between check on h5. A 10-second “blunder-check” before every move will solve half of these. - Endgame conversion vs. defence.
You handled the queen ending vs. virginiaelshaday poorly once the rooks came off. Knight forks and opposition ideas (opposition) would have saved you.
3-step improvement plan
- Openings (one month)
• Italian as White: play the quiet 6.c3 & 7.d4 setup, skip Ng5 for now.
• As Black choose ONE reply to 1.e4 (e.g. Caro-Kann) and learn the first 8–10 moves by heart.
780 (2020-04-15) will creep up simply from reaching safer middlegames. - Tactics training (daily)
• 20 puzzle rush attempts or 15 rated puzzles per day.
• Always say “checks, captures, threats” before moving during games. - King-safety checklist (every game)
Before pushing any wing pawn ask: “Is my king castled? Are my rooks connected?” Pin this on a sticky note next to your screen until it becomes automatic.
Illustrative moment
The diagram below is from the loss to thenetrider. White’s last move 18.Qf5+ looked menacing, but with 18…Qxf5 Black removed the dangerous queen and kept the extra rook. You can replay the critical phase here:
Keep your motivation high
You’re hovering around the 450-rating range already. Cleaning up the three issues above should push you past 600 very quickly. Enjoy the journey and message me anytime you’d like a deeper look at a specific game!
Coach’s tip: After every session, pick ONE game (win or loss), step through it slowly and write down two sentences: “What I did well / What I will change next time.” Consistency beats intensity.