Andrea Henderson de la Fuente WFM

Hi Andrea, here is your personalised post-mortem!

What you are already doing well

• Fighting spirit: You recover from worse positions and often grind out end-games until the very last second, as seen in your win against Fariasov (Black). Your confidence to play on is a great competitive asset.
• Active piece play: When you get the chance, you seize open files quickly (…Rf8-f7, Ra8-a7 and doubled rooks vs Fariasov). This habit of placing rooks on the 7th rank converts many middlegames into favourable end-games.
• Flexible opening choice: Alekhine’s Defence as Black and the Closed/Grand Prix Sicilian as White keep opponents out of mainstream theory – useful in blitz.

Biggest improvement areas (ranked)

1. Clock management – the elephant in the room
   Four of your last five losses were on time in playable or better positions. Think of the clock as an extra piece:
   • Use the increment: make at least one safe, pre-planned move before diving into calculation.
   • Adopt a “touch-move-decide” routine – glance at the clock before every move until it becomes automatic.
   • Spend opening prep time offline so you can blitz-out the first 10 moves and bank ≥ 40 s.
2. King safety vs early pawn storms
   In the loss to ARTHURMOTIVATOR you entered a well-known Alekhine trap:
   
   Lessons:
   • After 9.h4 the critical reply is h6, not Nf6. Learn the Samisch sideline in one sitting – it appears often.
   • When your opponent’s g-pawn has advanced and queens are on the board, never march the king to h5. Instead, keep it on g8 and bring a knight to f6.
3. Conversion technique in won end-games
   You were a pawn up and pushing in three lost-on-time games but could not force liquidation. Drill the “two-rook vs rook & minor” and rook-pawn endings so the winning method is automatic, saving clock and nerves.
4. Opening depth
   Your Closed Sicilian with 3.Bb5 scores well, yet the middlegame plans (d3-f4 or g3-Bg2 setups) sometimes clash, giving you overlapping pawn chains. Pick one plan per game:
   • If you play Bb5-xc6 followed by d3 f4, keep the dark-squared bishop, castle short and aim for f5.
   • In the g3 Bg2 version, castle early and delay f4 until the centre clarifies; otherwise you weaken e3/e4.

Micro-targets for the next month

⏱️ Average time left after move 15	≥ 1 min
♔ Games lost to mating nets in < 25 moves	0
🏁 End-games converted when +2	> 80 %

Suggested training menu

• 15 minutes/day of “pure calculation” puzzles (no board) to speed up pattern recall.
• Twice a week play a 10|0 practice game where you force yourself to move in ≤ 15 s during the opening – this simulates banking time for later.
• Review the critical positions from your own games before grandmaster examples; personal memory sticks longer.
• Revisit the concept of prophylaxis – ask “what is my opponent’s threat?” every move until it is ingrained.

Stats & visuals

Your current personal best: 2177 (2025-05-13). Keep an eye on your daily rhythm:

Keep going!

You are already competing well against 2300-2500 blitz opponents. Shoring up the two systemic issues – clock and king safety – will push you through the next rating plateau quickly. Good luck, and feel free to send me any positions you find puzzling.