rhinobritos GM

Hi rhinobritos!

You are already playing at an impressive level (≈3086 (2023-04-30)) and your overall win-rate curve (

What you’re doing well

• Opening versatility. You alternate comfortably between 1.e4 (Ruy Lopez, French Exchange) and 1.d4/1.c4 systems, while answering 1.d4 with Queen’s- & Nimzo-Indian setups and 1.e4 with both the French and Caro-Kann. This makes you hard to prepare for.
• Technical conversions. In several wins you converted extra material with methodical rook-maneuvering (e.g. vs Michael Brown). Your technique in Ruy Lopez +C77 endgames is especially clean.
• Kingside initiative. You often generate dangerous pawn storms (h- and g-pawns) that suffocate the opponent, as in the 1-0 miniature on 2025-06-05.

Key areas to sharpen

• Early tactical awareness vs unorthodox play.
  Losses to 12.Bb5+ and 18…Nf2+ indicate that you occasionally underestimate “one-move” tactics before development is complete. A quick rehearsal of forcing motifs (forks, pins, discovered attacks) before committing to expanding pawns (e.g. f4, b4) will save several rating points.
• Caro-Kann middlegames.
  In the B15 & B13 defeats you fell behind after …g6/…Bf5 setups. Black’s light-square bishop kept getting chased and allowed White large central space. Consider the Classical line with …Bf5 & …e6 without …g6, or adopt the more dynamic Bronstein-Larsen (…gxf6) idea to maintain counter-play.
• Handling flank systems (b3/Larsen).
  The quick 1.b3 game shows difficulty meeting early Ba4/Nc5 ideas. A simple antidote is 1…e5 2…Nc6 3…d5, grabbing the centre and preventing Bb5+.
• Clock management in won positions.
  You flagged an opponent at move 71, but earlier burns (and several sub-20 second scrambles) show that time trouble is still costing you clarity. Practice increment drills: play 30-second puzzles and vocalise the first safe move you see to train decisiveness.

In-depth example: quick tactical collapse

The critical sequence from your 0-1 loss on 2025-05-28:

Move 18 illustrates a recurring pattern: king still in the centre, both bishops pointing at you, and a knight jump exploiting an unprotected f-square. A four-point blunder-check (King – Queen – Major pieces – knights) before playing f-pawn pushes will help avoid this.

Action plan for the next 2 weeks

1. Daily tactics: 20 mixed problems focusing on forks & double-attacks. Filter them by theme “back-rank & f-pawn”.
2. Opening tune-ups:
   • Analyse 10 master games in the Caro-Kann Classical 4…Bf5, noting how Black keeps the e6-square solid.
   • Create a compact 8-move PGN repertoire vs 1.b3 with early …e5/d5 and practice it twice a day vs engine set to 2400.
3. Time-management drill: Play three 3 + 2 games per session; forbid yourself from dipping under 1:15 in the first 15 moves. Track progress with
   .
4. Post-game discipline: After every session, tag each game with one word (e.g. “calculation”, “opening”). Patterns will emerge within a week.

Quick glossary

• prophylaxis – anticipating the opponent’s plan before pursuing your own.
• zugzwang – a position where any move worsens your game; often appears in your rook endgames – keep pressing!

Closing thoughts

Your attacking flair already matches titled strength; bolstering early tactical vigilance and a couple of specific repertoire fixes should push you beyond the 3000-blitz barrier soon. Keep the momentum going, and enjoy the climb!