Coach Chesswick
Hi Sergei, here’s a tailored post-mortem of your recent sessions
1. Big-picture trends
- Your overall score curve keeps climbing – congratulations on a recent 2597 (2025-02-17)!
- The bulk of your wins are clustered in the late-evening slots; mornings are much swingier (see ).
- Chess960 is clearly your comfort zone (∼80 % of your games), but classical setups still leak points (see the sharp dip on Tuesdays in ).
2. What you already do well
- Resourcefulness in worse positions. • v. Sergei Iskusnyh you rebuilt from –1.8 to a dominant rook ending (32 .Rf2! 35 .g4!). • v. Andreikka you found 21 .Bxf8!! under time pressure and flipped the evaluation.
- Courageous king walks. Many opponents were surprised by Kc2–c4–b5 in the win against artooon; you judged the race perfectly.
- End-game technique. Recent conversions with extra passer (h-pawn vs. Alexandr Lauda) show good “box” method and triangulation skills.
3. Recurrent pain-points
- Over-ambitious pawn thrusts before development
– Loss v. Samvel Ter-Sahakyan: 7…d5 8.Re1 d4 created a carcinogenic pawn on d4 that later fell.
– Loss v. Volodar Murzin: 7.Rh4?! d4 ➜ the rook looked flashy but cost tempi.
Fix: For the next 20 games, impose a self-rule: no second pawn move until three pieces are developed. - Ignoring the opponent’s counter-play on the long diagonal
Example clip (game v. Alexander_Donchenko): — after …e5 you overlooked 16.Bg3! d5 and the dark-square crisis erupted.
Drill: 10 daily minutes on bishop-pair motif puzzles; pay special attention to “opposite-colour-bishop attacks.” - Clock management – three of your last five losses were on time while the engine still liked your position. Routine: Every 10 moves glance at the clock; aim for 50 % time used by move 20. Blitz some 3 + 2 games where you must survive increments.
4. Concrete opening tweaks
| Scenario | Current choice | Higher-yield alternative |
|---|---|---|
| 960 positions with …Nb6 already played | g3/f4 systems | c4 & d4 to grab centre quickly |
| Classical Ruy López | 11.a4?! (vs. h4parah5) | 11.Ng3 keeping the bishop pair – compare Master DB |
5. Mini practice plan (next 7 days)
- Day 1–2: 20 tactics per day filtered for interference & deflection (helps with missed …Qd8-h4 motifs).
- Day 3–4: Annotate two of your own losses without an engine for 30 min each, then compare to Stockfish.
- Day 5: Play three 15 + 10 non-960 games starting 1.e4 e5 to reinforce classical patterns.
- Day 6–7: Endgame lab – rook + pawn vs. rook tablebase rehearsal; try to hold vs. engine at depth-15.
6. Concept checklist for your next game
- “Pieces before pawns.”
- Each flank push must come with a threat – ask “what’s my worst-placed piece?” first.
- Abort spectacular king marches if the opponent still has a queen.
- Look for Zwischenzug before every capture exchange.