Coach Chesswick
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)
-
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.
-
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.
-
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. -
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: