Coach Chesswick
Hi RLH2 – personalised performance review
You are currently playing around strength and the raw results show a healthy tactical instinct and fighting spirit. Your recent record (see
and ) tells a clear story: strong starts, but a dip in conversion once the time pressure rises.Major strengths
- Opening variety & confidence. You handle both 1.e4 (French / Scandinavian) and 1.d4 (Benoni-type or Old-Indian set-ups) with ease, often steering opponents into unfamiliar territory.
- Tactical vision. Mates such as 35…Qg2# against Paulz64 show that you spot long combinations quickly, even in bullet.
- Willingness to seize space. Pawns storms (e.g. …h5–h4, …b5–b4 in many games) keep the initiative on your side.
Typical issues & action-items
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Time-pressure conversions
In the loss to BlitzstreamTwitch (Scandinavian, 0-1), you reached a materially equal but winning rook ending yet flagged after 45…Rd5.
• Action: Practise “countdown drills” – play out won rook endings with 5-second increments; force yourself to pre-calculate a forced winning plan before moving.
• Tool: Lichess Studies or Chess.com drills “Rook vs pawn race”. -
Over-extension of pawn breaks
The French Exchange win was impressive, yet in the C01 loss versus Canyank73 your early f- and g-pawn push left dark squares tender (…Bg4 → …f5).
• Action: After advancing two flank pawns, ask “What is the opponent’s central reply?” Insert a prophylactic move (…Re8, …Qd7) before a third pawn push. -
Endgame technique
Several lost games featured rook+minor piece endings where you were down a pawn yet still drawable (e.g. 43…Bd2! instead of 43…Rxf5 in the French Rubinstein).
• Action: Work through the Philidor position and Lucena bridge with 3-minute timers until they become instinctive.
• Reading: A 15-minute skim of Silman’s “Endgame Course” R-P chapter should suffice for bullet needs.
Opening snapshot
Here is a crisp sequence from one of your best French Exchange wins:
[[Pgn|1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.Be2 Be7 7.O-O O-O 8.Ne5 Nbd7 9.Bf4 Nb6 10.Re1 Bf5 11.Bd3 Bxd3 12.Qxd3 Bd6 13.Re2 Qc7 14.Rae1 Rae8 15.Qg3 Nh5 16.Qg4 … 47.Rxg2 1-0]]This line scores well for you – keep it! Consider adding a faster “system” vs 1.d4 to reduce think time; the Old-Indian you used vs kingrussellhantz already fits this bill.
Micro-habit checklist before each game
- 30-second opening warm-up vs engine (pre-sets your muscle memory).
- Tell yourself one endgame theme to look for (e.g. “rook on 7th”).
- Commit to two 0.5-second safety checks per move after move 15.
Next steps
• Spend one session refining your move order in the French:
…Nc6 vs …Nf6 timing makes a large difference.
• Play a 3|2 mini-match weekly – the increment forces cleaner conversion.
• Revisit this dashboard in two weeks and compare the new
Keep the pressure on, enjoy the grind, and see you above 2300 soon!