Coach Chesswick
Overview — recent blitz snapshot
Nice work, Eugene. Your recent blitz shows strong opening familiarity with English-style setups, good piece coordination, and the ability to convert advantages. Below I highlight what you did well in the sample games, recurring weaknesses, and a short practice plan to turn close losses into wins.
Quick links to the sample games
- Win (you as White vs NeuerGiveUp):
- Loss (you as White vs FlashyFerrari):
Useful terms: Passed pawn, King safety, Rook on the seventh, Time pressure.
What you're doing well
- Opening work — you consistently reach solid English/Catalan middlegames where you can play for a plan.
- Active piece play — bishops and rooks often coordinate to pressure files and weak squares.
- Conversion ability — when you gain an edge, you generally steer toward simplifications that increase your winning chances.
- Blitz experience — you handle most time scrambles well and keep practical chances alive.
Recurring issues to fix (high impact)
- Endgame technique under pressure — both the FlashyFerrari game and others show vulnerability to passed-pawn races and promotion tactics. Practice common pawn-race and rook-endgame patterns.
- Tactical checks and infiltration — you occasionally miss enemy checks or knight/queen forks that change the evaluation quickly. Add focused tactics on forcing sequences.
- Prophylaxis before trades — after exchanges you sometimes allow opponent counterplay (active knights or passed pawns). Before each simplifying exchange, ask what the opponent gains.
- Time allocation in critical moments — keep a few seconds in reserve for the endgame; avoid burning all time on non-critical moves early.
Concrete 4-week practice plan
- Daily (15–20 min): tactics workout — focus on forks, skewers, mate patterns and checks (20 puzzles/day).
- 3×/week (30–45 min): endgame practice — rook vs rook+pawn, king & pawn races, and stopping/pass-promotion motifs.
- 2×/week (45 min): play 10+5 rapid games with the goal to deliberately steer into endgames and practice the conversion checklist.
- Blitz habit tweak: when position is calm, make 2–3 quick safe moves to bank time for later critical moments.
Practical checklist for blitz
- Scan for checks, captures, and threats before each move (3-second habit).
- If you plan to trade, state your plan in one sentence: what is the resulting endgame and your winning idea?
- Count pawn races quickly: who queens first? Can you create a mating net if they queen?
- Create at least one flight square for your king in positions with back-rank risk.
Next steps
- Run 10–15 focused endgame drills this week (I can provide a short set of positions).
- Do a 1-week tactics sprint prioritizing forks and mating patterns.
- Play ten 10+5 games aiming to reach and convert endgames; send one game you’d like annotated and I’ll mark the turning point with alternative lines.
If you want, I can produce a day-by-day 4-week calendar based on your available time and favorite openings.