Charly Sardo

Quick summary of the session

Nice session — you converted two wins with active piece play, created and pushed a passed pawn to promotion, and finished with a clean mating net. Your loss shows recurring issues: time management and a few tactical oversights when the position got sharp. Overall: strong practical sense, but sharpening tactics and endgame technique will give you a reliable +1 in most close positions.

Replay a key winning game (interactive)

Study the game where you promoted on the a-file and finished with a rook + queen mate. Watch how you used the passed pawn as a decoy and how rooks and queen coordinated in the final phase.

What you did well (repeat these)

• Turning a material/positional advantage into a decisive passed pawn — you understand how to create and escort a passed pawn to promotion.
• Piece activity: rooks and queen were coordinated in the final stages, which produced mating threats and decisive infiltration.
• Opening choices suit your style — for example the Scandinavian line you played led to a playable middlegame where you outplayed the opponent. (See Scandinavian Defense.)
• Clean tactics in winning games — you spotted combinations and followed through instead of switching plans prematurely.

Key mistakes to fix (concrete)

• Time management: two losses were on time. Stay aware of your clock in complicated positions. If you’re ahead on the board, trade down or simplify to reduce calculation burden when low on time.
• Tactical oversights in chaotic positions — when pieces are traded or a pawn race starts, double-check for opponent checks, forks and back-rank ideas before committing.
• King safety after exchanges: in the loss where the opponent queen invaded your kingside, your king became vulnerable. Prioritize king safety (air for the king, escape squares) before launching attacks.
• Passive moves that allowed counterplay — once you have an advantage, choose forcing moves (checks, captures, threats) that limit opponent resources instead of quiet moves that give chances to defend.

Concrete, 4-week improvement plan

• Daily (10–20 minutes): tactics trainer with emphasis on forks, discovered checks, and promotion tactics. Goal: 20 mixed tactics/day, focus on accuracy over speed.
• 3× per week (20 minutes): endgame drills — rook + pawn vs rook, queen + rook vs rook, and pawn races. Practice converting an outside passed pawn and basic mating patterns (rook and queen mates).
• 2× per week (15 minutes): review two recent losses (annotate them). Ask: what was my plan on this move? Did I check all checks and captures? This builds pattern recognition for blunder avoidance.
• Opening: keep the lines you play that give good practical chances (Scandinavian, Giuoco Piano). Spend one short session per week reviewing common tactical motifs and one typical middlegame plan per opening. See Giuoco Piano for the other game you converted.

Practical in-game checklist (use during rapid)

• If you have more than 3 minutes on the clock: calculate candidate moves thoroughly. If under 1 minute: simplify if ahead; otherwise play safe forcing moves.
• Before every candidate move ask: “Does this leave my king exposed?” and “Does opponent have checks or forks?”
• When creating a passed pawn — estimate opposition resources. Use rooks behind passed pawn or queen decoy tactics like you did in your win.

Game-specific notes & opponents

• Win vs burakg04 — great conversion, promoted to queen on the a-file and coordinated rook/queen mate. Revisit the moment you pushed the pawn to a6–a7: your opponent’s counterplay disappeared after that. Good patience.
• Win vs milestee — you won material and simplified into a technical win. Continue to practice converting small advantages like this.
• Loss vs growspineget60 — lost on time after a sharp middlegame. Main takeaway: prioritize the clock and avoid speculative complications without increment cushion.
• Loss vs daniel-stamidis and win vs sneznypernik give further examples of both your strengths (attacking) and weak spots (allowing counterplay). Review both to spot recurring errors.

Short-term metrics to track

• Tactics accuracy: aim to raise solved/attempt ratio by 5–10% in 4 weeks.
• Time usage: reduce games lost on time by half in the next 50 rapid games — keep a note when you get into below-1-minute situations.
• Conversion rate: track how often you convert a +1 advantage into a win; aim to improve by simplifying sooner when ahead.

Final notes & encouragement

You have strong practical instincts — your opening win rates and high total wins (2820) show experience and a sense for which games you can press. With focused tactical drills, consistent endgame practice, and slightly better clock management you’ll make those incremental gains that push your rating upward. Small changes in habits often give big results.

Want a short annotated version of one of your exact recent games (line-by-line coaching comments)? Tell me which game (opponent name) and I’ll annotate the critical moments.