Coach Chesswick
Quick summary
Benjamin — good session. You converted two technical wins with clean rook play and outside passers, but you also dropped decisive games after allowing opponent counterplay and passed pawns. Your short‑term rating is up and the data shows clear strengths to exploit.
- Wins: active rooks, created outside passers and converted methodically.
- Losses: tactical/positional slips when opponents generated counterplay and passed pawns.
- Overall: with small fixes (tactics & endgames) your practical score should improve quickly.
What you did well
- Rook activity — you repeatedly reached open files and the 7th rank, then converted cleanly.
- Creating passed pawns — you pushed passed pawns and used them to open files for rooks and kings.
- Practical decision‑making — you turn small advantages into endgame wins instead of hunting speculative tricks.
- Opening choices that score: King's Indian Defense: Larsen Variation and the Diemer-Duhm Gambit (DDG) 4...f5 line show strong win rates for you.
Where you should improve
- Defensive tactics — a few losses came from missing counter‑tactics (forks, back‑rank motifs, knight jumps). Spend time on defensive pattern drills.
- Opponents’ passed pawns — you sometimes allowed blockades to fail or the opponent’s pawn to queen; practice blockade + king activation earlier.
- Trade evaluation — avoid simplifying when the resulting pawn structure or passer favors the opponent; ask “Does this trade reduce my winning chances?”
- Time management — try to keep a ~10–15s reserve in rapid to avoid low‑accuracy moves in critical moments.
Concrete 4‑week plan
- Daily (20–30 min): Tactics — emphasize defensive motifs (pins, forks, removing defenders, between moves).
- 3×/week (30–45 min): Endgames — drill rook + pawn vs rook, Lucena and Philidor positions, king + passer races.
- 2×/week (30 min): Opening consolidation — pick your top KID and DDG lines and build short plans for opponent sidelines.
- Weekly: Post‑mortem two recent games — find the turning move and at least one defensive resource you missed. Use engine only after your analysis.
- Practical: Play 2 rapid games focusing on clock discipline and applying endgame technique.
Example tactical reminder (short PGN)
Practice spotting defenders and counter‑forks. Here’s a short, clean opening fragment to run tactics on:
Tip: when you see a capture or breakthrough, check for enemy forks or hidden pins before committing.
Game‑specific takeaways from your recent session
- Win vs Alexander Rustemov — you forced exchanges to open a rook file and used a passed pawn to create decisive entry squares. Keep doing that: simplify when the resulting pawn structure gives you a clear passer and active rooks.
- Win vs Jules Moussard — excellent exploitation of kingside weaknesses and coordinated rooks. Good tactical awareness when the opponent weakened around their king.
- Loss vs Nihal Sarin — the position turned when your opponent created a protected passer and invaded with heavy pieces. Next time, prioritize blockade and piece activity over material grabbing.
Opening notes
- Double down on the lines with strong historical results for you: King's Indian Defense: Larsen Variation and Diemer-Duhm Gambit (DDG): 4...f5.
- Against the Ruy Lopez-type structures you recently faced, avoid early simplifications that create far advanced passed pawns for the opponent — keep tension and active pieces.
- Prepare 1–2 short responses to the common sidelines you just saw so you save time and avoid surprises.
Practical tips for rapid play
- When spotting a tactic, mentally scan for hidden defenders and counterchecks before playing the capture.
- If you gain a pawn, improve piece activity first (rooks to open files, king to the center in endgames) before chasing more material.
- Keep 10–15 seconds as a reserve on the clock through move 20; spend more time only on real turning points.
- After a loss, do five easy tactics to reset focus before the next game.
How I can help next
- Do a focused post‑mortem on any of the games above — say which one and I’ll annotate the critical moments.
- I can produce a 2‑week tactics pack concentrated on the defensive motifs you miss most.
- If you want, I’ll make a one‑page cheat sheet for your top 3 openings with common replies and plans.
Tell me which game or task you want next — e.g. “Annotate loss vs Nihal Sarin” — and I’ll start.