Saeid Fani

Quick summary

Nice run lately — your play shows growing tactical confidence and a sharper opening toolkit. You’re getting good results in sharp, tactical lines (Scotch and Petrov), and your rating trend is moving up. Below I highlight concrete strengths, recurring leaks from your recent games, and a short, practical training plan you can start this week.

Highlights — what you're doing well

• Acute tactical sense: you convert tactics quickly (example: the win where you grabbed the h‑file king attack and won material early). See the game viewer:
• Opening repertoire focused on sharp, unbalanced lines — that suits your tactical style. Your stats show strong win rates in the Scotch Game and Petrov's Defense (Scotch Game, Petrov's Defense).
• Finishing ability when ahead: you press and convert advantages rather than simplifying into passive equality.
• Positive long-term trend — your 3–12 month slopes are strongly positive. Keep building on that momentum.

Main weaknesses to fix (actionable)

• King safety in the middlegame — a few games show your king getting exposed after you go for active pawn/play or early queen excursions. Before committing pawns in front of your king, ask: “does this open lines for the opponent?”
• Critical-moment calculation — you win many tactical skirmishes but occasionally miss a defensive resource for the opponent (or a quiet counter). Force yourself to spend a little extra time on positions with checks, captures, and threats.
• Opening consistency — some openings in your database have clear negative returns (Four Knights, Barnes Defense and Blackburne Shilling Gambit have lower win rates). Either study those lines deeply or avoid them in rated play until they’re fixed.
• Trading into passive positions — you sometimes trade into setups where your pieces become passive. Before exchanges, check who benefits from simplification: the side with better piece activity should avoid trades that level activity.
• Endgame technique basics — when material gets simplified, active rook placement and king centralization decide the game. A few simple endgame drills will convert more drawn/unclear endings into wins.

Notes from recent games (concrete takeaways)

• Win vs Beka_Vendetta (beka_vendetta): excellent exploitation of the h‑file and queen infiltration. You did well to sacrifice for open lines and follow through. (See the quick replay above.)
• Loss vs Vadimmme (vadimmme): the game ended after a sequence where you allowed opponent activity with knight forks and penetration on the back rank. Key lesson: when the opponent has active knights and your back rank is weak, prioritize back‑rank luft or piece trade to reduce tactics.
• Game abandonment / opponent resign patterns: some wins come from opponent time or abandonment — make sure you still practice winning technique so you won’t rely on opponents quitting in critical moments.

Concrete 4‑week training plan (what to do, day by day)

• Daily (20–30 minutes): tactics trainer — 12–20 mixed puzzles focusing on forks, pins, discovered checks and back‑rank motifs. After each wrong answer, briefly review the full line.
• 3× per week (30–45 minutes): one rapid game with increment, then 15 minutes of post‑mortem on your mistakes — annotate the moments where you traded, missed a tactic, or let king exposure happen.
• 2× per week (15 minutes): endgame drills — king and pawn vs king basics, rook behind passed pawn, simple Lucena/Philidor ideas. Practical facts win many close games.
• Weekly (60 minutes): opening maintenance — pick the two openings with best results (Scotch, Petrov). Study one model game each, and memorize typical plans and two move orders you will play for both sides. Use Scotch Game and Petrov's Defense as starting points.

Practical checklist to use during games

• Before your move: check for opponent checks, captures, threats (5‑second tactical scan).
• If you see a sacrifice line: verify king safety and count material after the sequence; don’t trust intuition alone.
• When ahead: prefer active moves that keep the opponent under pressure instead of automatic simplifications.
• If your back rank looks tight: create one escape square before launching pawn storms or opening files.

Opening advice (short & practical)

• Double down on your strengths: keep playing the Scotch and Petrov while you refine common sidelines and move orders. Use model games to learn typical pawn breaks and piece plans.
• Avoid or simplify the lines where your win rate is poor until you study them properly (Four Knights Game, Barnes Defense, Blackburne Shilling Gambit). Either pick safer alternatives or prepare a single reliable line in those openings.
• Practice move‑order traps in the openings you play most — a 1–2 minute checklist of "my usual reply, if opponent plays X then Y" helps avoid early mismatches.

30/90/180 day goals

• 30 days: reduce tactical blunders by 30% — track “missed tactics” in each post‑mortem and aim to see most of them during the 5‑second tactical scan.
• 90 days: make your Scotch/Petrov repertoires reliable — have 6–8 typical middlegame plans and be comfortable with one or two endgame transitions from those lines.
• 180 days: convert a +1 to +2 advantage more consistently — better endgame and piece coordination will increase your conversion rate.

Want a deeper look?

If you want, send one specific game (PGN) and I’ll annotate the top 3 turning points and give move‑by‑move improvement suggestions. I can also produce a short checklist you can use over the board for that exact opening line.