Raúl

Quick summary

Nice work — your recent daily games show strong tactical vision and an ability to punish opponents who loosen king safety. You won a clean tactical game by forcing a decisive knight invasion and finishing with a queen check. Your loss shows recurring defensive/coordination issues when the opponent opens files toward your king and queen. Below are concrete, focused steps to keep the tactical strengths and remove the recurring weaknesses.

Recent games — highlights

• Win vs baloch_07 — You built a fast kingside attack, sacrificed or exchanged to open lines, and used a knight invasion (from f5 → h6 → f7 → capture on h8 and later back to f7/d5) to overwhelm the opponent. The game finished after your queen delivered the decisive check on f6.

  Key ideas you used: aggressive knight outposts, creating mating/attack threats, and converting a material + positional advantage once the enemy king was exposed.
• Loss vs mirloblanco — That game shows where things slide: after some exchanges you fell into a position where opponent activated the queen/rooks and you faced tactical threats on the back rank and on the queenside. The decisive moment came when the opponent captured on b2 (Qxb2) and your coordination collapsed.

  Key improvements needed: coordination of rooks and queen in the middlegame, and avoiding simplifications that hand your opponent active files toward your king.

  Opening that game: Queen's Gambit Declined.

• Draw note — The draw PGN you provided appears to duplicate the loss PGN (same moves and result). If you intended a different draw, paste that PGN and I’ll add a short review. Otherwise, I’ll assume no new draw to analyze yet.

What you're doing well

• Active piece play: you use knights aggressively to jump into enemy camp — that's tactical strength (seen in the win vs baloch_07).
• Eye for combinations: you spot forks and penetrating squares quickly and convert them into wins.
• Opening variety: you play multiple opening families (e4, c4, QGD), which gives you flexibility and practical chances.

Main things to improve

• King safety and coordination when the opponent opens files — after exchanges your back rank and open files became dangerous. Slow down and check for enemy threats before trading pieces.
• Piece coordination in simplified positions — when the position simplifies, ask “who is more active?” If your pieces are passive, avoid trades that help the opponent activate rooks/queen.
• Calculation discipline in critical moments — practice listing candidate moves and checking opponent replies (reduce tunnel vision). For daily games you have time — use it to calculate 2–3 replies deeper.
• Endgame basics — some games ended with lost coordination in rook/queen endings. Study basic rook endgames and simple Queen+Rook tactics to avoid tactical losses in liquid positions.

Concrete 4-week training plan

• Daily (15–25 minutes): tactics trainer focused on knight forks, pins, and discovered attacks. Aim for 20 correctly solved puzzles per session.
• 2× week (30 minutes): calculation practice — pick a position, write down 3 candidate moves, and calculate variations to move 6 (three full moves) for both sides. Use slow time controls or a physical board.
• 1× week (30–45 minutes): endgame micro-drills — basic rook endgames, king-and-pawn vs king, and technique to defend passive positions. Focus on one ending per session.
• Ongoing: choose one reliable opening for White and one for Black to learn in-depth (two or three typical plans each). For example, if you like the setups you played, reinforce plans in Sicilian Defense and King's Pawn Opening lines.
• After each daily game: 10–15 minute postmortem. Identify one tactic you missed and one strategic plan you could improve; annotate the two key moments and repeat the position blindfolded.

Micro-drills you can start now

• Knight-outpost drill: place a knight on an outpost square and play 5 positions where you keep it alive while increasing pressure. Evaluate opponent plans every move.
• Trade-safety checklist: before every exchange ask three questions — (1) who gets open files? (2) does the opponent get a back-rank target? (3) are my pawns fractured? If any answer helps the opponent, delay the trade.
• Candidate-move habit: in every critical position list 3 candidate moves out loud (or in notes) before calculating. This forces better tactical checks.

Game-specific tips you can apply immediately

• Win vs baloch_07 — keep doing what worked: build threats quickly, force pawn weaknesses around the enemy king, then use knights to jump into the weakened squares. When you create a crack in the pawn shield, look for mating nets and queen checks.
• Loss vs Mirloblanco — next time you face active queen/rook battery toward your king, consider a prophylactic rook lift or creating luft (escape square) for your king and aim to trade queens when under pressure if your rooks are passive.
• Time management — you have plenty of time in daily; use the clock to verify tactical shots and count opponent replies. That extra minute often avoids blunders in tactical sequences.

Next session challenge (pick one)

• Play a daily game where your goal is "no unnecessary exchanges" — only trade when it improves your piece activity. After the game, check positions where trades could have been delayed.
• Do a 30-minute tactics + 30-minute endgame block, then play a single annotated daily game and do a 15-minute postmortem focusing on missed tactics and endgame ideas.

Motivation & follow-up

Your Strength Adjusted Win Rate (~0.499) shows you perform about at expectation vs opponents — with the training above you can convert more tactical wins into consistent rating gains. Send me one annotated game after you run the 4-week plan and I’ll give a focused follow-up: first things I’d fix and one deep tactic to practice next.