Coach Chesswick
Quick summary
Nice attacking instincts — your most recent daily games show a strong eye for tactical shots and king hunts. You convert pressure into wins and throw in well-timed sacrifices. There are a few recurring weaknesses (early piece awkwardness and occasional hanging pieces) you can clean up quickly with targeted practice.
Game highlights
Most recent win vs Amy Choma — classic Scotch-style attacking finish. You sacrificed on f7 and followed with fast checks that forced the enemy king into the open and mate.
- Opening: Scotch Gambit (ECO C45).
- Decisive idea: sacrificial assault on the kingside, forcing the king into a mating net.
- Replay the sequence below to study the forcing lines and the final mating pattern.
Replay the game:
What you're doing well
- Sharp tactical vision — you spot forcing continuations and sacrificial ideas quickly. That paid off repeatedly in recent wins.
- Aggressive opening choices that lead to concrete play (your Amazon Attack, Sicilian and Scandinavian results show this is a strength).
- Converting advantages — when you get the initiative you press until the opponent cracks or resigns.
- Good creativity in the middlegame: you generate threats rather than passively shuffling moves.
Areas to improve
These are the recurring patterns from your recent wins and losses to target first:
- Piece safety early on. In a short loss you allowed a simple pawn capture to win a piece — avoid moving into squares that can be captured without calculation. Before jumping into an attack, make a quick “are my pieces hanging?” check.
- Avoid redundant piece moves in the opening. Develop with a purpose — don’t move the same piece multiple times unless you gain clear compensation.
- Calculate the opponent’s best defensive resources. You attack very well; balance that with checking for one or two defensive replies from the opponent so surprises don’t reverse the tide.
- Endgame technique and simplification decisions. Several wins ended in resignation — keep practicing basic endgames so double-edged positions are still converted without overpressing.
Concrete next steps (30 / 90 / 180 day plan)
- 30 days — Daily tactics (15–25 puzzles/day). Focus on forks, discovered checks and mating nets. After solving, review why wrong answers fail.
- 90 days — Opening reinforcement: pick your top 3 opening lines (your Amazon Attack / Sicilian / Scandinavian) and learn 4–6 typical middlegame plans and one or two trap lines to avoid. Use the Scotch example above to learn the thematic king hunt ideas.
- 180 days — Endgame fundamentals (king and pawn vs king, basic rook endgames, Lucena). Combine with game reviews: pick 10 recent wins/losses and annotate them without engine first, then check with an engine to find 2–3 recurring mistakes to fix.
Practical play tips to use immediately
- One-step safety check before every move: "Is any piece attacked or hanging?" — prevents simple losses like the Coach-Mae game (see Coach-Mae).
- When you see a sacrifice, count forced checks/captures for the next 3–4 moves — if you can’t force the king into a worse spot, wait or prepare it.
- If you’re ahead in material, simplify when safe. If you’re ahead in activity, keep pieces on to maximize pressure.
- Keep a short opening notebook: 6–8 typical pawn structures and a model plan for each opening you play often.
Study & training resources (quick)
- Tactics: 10–20 minutes/day on puzzles that force calculation (themes: forks, pins, discovered check).
- Openings: pick one resource per opening — a short thematic video or one-page summary of plans and typical pawn breaks.
- Analysis habit: after each rated game, write down what you thought during key moves, then check with an engine and note 2 things to fix.
Closing and next review
You're already winning by creating chaos and hunting kings — polish the little tactical and positional details that turn good games into consistent results. If you'd like, I can:
- Annotate one of your recent wins and one loss move-by-move (pick a game).
- Build a 4-week tactics plan tailored to the motifs you miss most.
Which would you like me to do next?