old soldier

Hi “old soldier”, here is your personalised post-match debrief

What you are doing well

• Enterprising openings. You are comfortable with flexible setups (e.g. d3–e4–f4 against …d5, and King’s Indian Attack structures). This often surprises opponents rated below you and creates rich middlegames.
• Tactical alertness. Many of your wins feature double-attacks (24.Rf6!! vs ) and mating nets (51.Nf7# vs ). Your calculation depth is a clear asset.
• Conversion technique when ahead. In winning games you rarely let the advantage slip once queens are traded; you coordinate heavy pieces smoothly and keep threats alive.

Recurring problems to address

1. Early pawn thrusts leave holes. In several losses (e.g. 13…g5 vs <John Duneas>) the premature pawn storm weakened your own king. Tip: Before pushing a wing pawn, ask “If the files open, whose king is safer?”.
2. Unnecessary queen adventures. 14.Bg5–Qa5–Bxa4 in the loss to shows how quickly an active queen can become a tactical target. Drill: play training games where you are forbidden to move the queen before move 10; this builds piece-first development habits.
3. Time-pressure endgames. Two recent defeats were on time in equal or better rook endings. Practical endgame speed is a rating gold-mine!
   • Daily 10-minute rook-and-pawn vs rook drills.
   • Use “<holding technique>”: put your king in front of the passed pawn before calculating checks.
4. Ignoring opponent counter-play. When you focus on your own attack (e.g. 16…d4!! in the win vs kamran1990114, but you suffered the mirror problem against crocodile074) you sometimes miss a single strong reply. Add one prophylactic question each move: “What is my opponent threatening?” (<prophylaxis>).

Illustrative mini-lesson

The critical moment from your loss to maratderdzyan:

White’s 17.Qc3 overlooked the tactical shot …Nxe4! exploiting the pin on the d-file. A quieter 17.Rd3 would have parried the idea.

Action plan for the next two weeks

1. Play three 15|10 games focusing on classical queen’s pawn openings (no early f-pawn pushes). After each game, write down one missed defensive resource.
2. Solve 20 intermediate-difficulty tactics per day, but spend a full minute after each solution visualising how the defender might have avoided it.
3. Endgame sprint: set up R+4 vs R+4 symmetrical rook endings and try to win from both sides against the engine at “level 4” until you can convert in under 60 seconds.
4. Review your performance dashboards:
   • Hour-by-hour form:
   
   • Daily consistency:
5. Track your progress; your current personal best is 2491 (2025-03-09). Let’s aim to add +40 points by month-end.

Final encouragement

Your attacking flair already beats titled opponents. Temper it with a dash of restraint and sharper endgame technique, and the next rating jump will come naturally. Keep marching on, old soldier!