Coach Chesswick
Hi Ruben!
Great job grinding out so many rapid-fire 5-minute games. Your activity chart (
) shows steady volume across the day and a healthy win-rate trend (). Below are some strengths I see, plus a focused plan to raise your game another level.What you already do well
- Tactical alertness. Many of your wins (e.g. against Maria Ester Mencos Castillo) were decided by neat forks, pins and mating nets. You rarely miss a clear shot once you spot it.
- Attacking instinct. You willingly castle opposite sides, lift a rook (Re1-e4-h4!), and hunt the enemy king. That confidence is a big asset.
- Fighting spirit in endgames. Your two rook-and-pawn conversions show patient technique: you centralised the king, kept rooks active and squeezed the queenside majority.
Biggest improvement opportunities
-
Opening discipline.
In several losses you entered unfamiliar structures and fell behind quickly (see the Queen’s Gambit Declined vs melisar, moves 10-14).
• Limit your repertoire to one main line with each colour for a month.
• After every game, compare your moves to a master game — you’ll memorise typical plans effortlessly. -
Pawn-structure awareness.
The Caro-Kann Advance loss started to slip after5…b5?!, weakening c6 & a6 before development was complete.
Remedy: spend 20 minutes/day on model games that highlight good vs bad pawn breaks; annotate them with words like “weak square”, “lever”, “backward pawn” for pattern recall. -
Prophylaxis (prophylaxis).
In attacking games you sometimes forget to ask “what can my opponent do?” — the sacrifice 32…Bxd5(loss vs Maria_Mencos_GUA) exploited an undefended back rank.
Checklist before every forcing move: “Are any of my pieces loose? What is his best counter-punch?” -
Time management.
You frequently drop under 60 seconds with several pieces on the board. Aim to reach move 20 with ≥ 2 minutes; train by playing 3|2 games (same total time but the increment forces you to move faster early).
Targeted training plan (4 weeks)
| Task | Minutes / day |
|---|---|
| Theme tactics (forks, deflections, zwischenzug) | 15 |
| Endgame drills (rook vs pawn races, Lucena-style) | 10 |
| Review one master game in your chosen opening | 15 |
| Play 2–3 games, annotate one loss deeply | –– |
Quick reference
Your peak blitz rating so far: 1530 (2012-10-16). Let’s aim to add +100 in the next 90 days!
Keep the energy and curiosity high, Ruben, and the rating gains will follow. Message me any time you’d like a deeper look at a specific game.
Good luck, have fun, and keep calculating!