Polina Kobak WFM

Hi Polina, here’s a focused review of your recent blitz sessions.

Quick Snapshot

• Current form: A healthy mix of sharp wins and a few painful time-forfeits.
• Peak blitz rating so far: 2527 (2025-04-08).
• Activity pattern:

What You’re Doing Well

• Flexible openings. As White you switch between the Réti/Larsen setup (1 Nf3 b3 Bb2) and queen-pawn systems. This keeps opponents guessing and often steers the game out of booked territory.
• Tactical alertness. The finish in your latest win (32…Qxg2#) shows good calculation once you seize the initiative.
• Piece activity from the opening. Your Colle/Slav structures as Black routinely develop all minor pieces before move 10—excellent for blitz.

Recurring Issues

• Time management. Four of the last six losses were on the clock. Even in wins your time often dips below 5 s by move 30. Blitz rewards practical choices; you don’t need perfect moves, just playable ones quickly. TimeTrouble
• Over-extended queen sorties. In the Catalan loss vs Neart_F your queen visited c7–b6–e4 only to get chased while the rest of your army lagged behind. Aim for “develop first, attack later”.
• Pawn weakness on the dark squares. Games against the French Advance and King’s Indian show a tendency to push flank pawns (…a5, …h5) without enough support, leaving holes on c6, f6, h6. Study model games where Black keeps the pawn chain compact. PawnStructure

Action Plan for the Next Week

1. “Two-second rule”. Force yourself to make every forced reply (recapture, only move, obvious recapture) within two seconds. This alone will save ~20 s/game.
2. Opening stream-lining. Choose one reply to 1 e4 (your French is fine) and one to 1 d4 (your Semi-Slav is solid). Drill the first 10 moves until you can play them blindfolded; this will bank time for middlegame calculation.
3. Tactics diet. 20 puzzles/day with a 30-second timer each. Focus on motifs you already execute (uncovered attacks, back-rank mates) so they become instinctive.
4. Endgame practice. Set up the rook-and-pawn vs rook position from your loss to garfield_pg. Convert it as both sides five times. Confidence here turns many flag races into wins.

Illustrative Moment

From your win vs blitzground:

The key was 29…gxh5!! accepting doubled h-pawns to open the g-file for your queen. Nice awareness of king-side geometry.

Next Coaching Call

Let’s review a couple of your French Defense games move-by-move and run a live five-minute game focusing on the “two-second rule”. Have one or two recent games ready where you lost on time despite a winning position.

Good luck, and keep the pieces flying!