Benedict Smail NM

Feedback for Benedict Smail

Great job on the recent streak of dynamic wins! Your attacking instincts are obvious and your current peak of 2544 (2022-04-28) shows steady improvement. Below are a few focused areas that can help you climb to the next level.

1. Time Management – the low-hanging fruit

• Five of your last six losses were on time in positions that were still playable or even better for you. Treat the clock as an extra piece:
  • Make simple decisions quickly (recaptures, obvious forcing moves).
  • Aim to keep ≥45 s on the clock after move 20 in 3-minute games. Use
    to verify progress.
  • When clearly winning, shift to “increment-friendly” techniques: trade queens, avoid complex pawn races, and pre-move safe recaptures.

2. Opening Hygiene

You score well with mainstream setups (e.g., QGD as White, Sicilian vs. 1.e4) but struggle when structure becomes unfamiliar.

• Against Anti-Sicilians (Alapin, Closed): have a ready system (…d5 break vs. Alapin; …e6 & …d5 vs. Closed) so you don’t burn time.
• Queen’s Gambit Declined: in your win vs. honestgirl you used 8.Qd2!? + 10.cxd5. Nice tactical feel, but the light-square bishop got stuck later. Study the model plan ∆Bd3, 0-0, e4 to keep the bishop active.
• Add one new line a week; test it in 5|5 to get reps without severe clock pressure.

3. Tactics & Calculation

• Many decisive moments revolved around missed intermediate moves (Zwischenzug). Solve 10–15 timed puzzles daily focusing on forcing-move trees “check, capture, threat”.
• When pieces swarm the opponent’s king, pause for 5-second blunder-check before executing the flashy sacrifice.

4. Converting Advantages

• In the win vs. TheKnightBefore, you were +6 but allowed counter-play before finishing. Adopt the “Two-step conversion” rule:
  1. Simplify (trade into a clearly won endgame).
  2. Push passed pawns only when your king and pieces are maximally active.
• Replay the critical phase quickly:
  . Ask: “Where was the safest win?”

5. Endgame Toolkit

Your middlegame attacking skill often leaves you low on endgame mileage. Shore this up:

• Practice basic rook endgames (Philidor & Lucena). Two of your time-forfeit losses could have been drawn with correct rook placement.
• Play thematic endgame sparring (30-move preset rook + 4 pawns vs. rook + 4) with a friend or against bots.

Next Steps

1. Track blitz sessions with a 5-minute post-mortem; note one recurring mistake each day.
2. Revisit these notes weekly and plug the biggest leak first.
3. Check progress in a month via
   . Aim for +5 % improvement in games finished with >10 s on the clock.

Stay curious and keep the pieces active—looking forward to seeing Benedict Smail break the next rating plateau!