Sai Shen IM

Hi Sai Shen!

You already play at an impressive level (current peak: ). Below is some targeted, constructive feedback drawn from your latest games.

What you’re doing well

• Opening versatility. You score wins in very different structures – Vienna Game as White, Sveshnikov and French-Tarrasch as Black, plus the Bogo-Indian against 1.d4. This makes you hard to prepare for.
• Early central tension. You are happy to play …e5 in the Sveshnikov, 7.d4 in the Vienna, and 7…d5 as Black in the French, seizing space and forcing your opponent to solve problems.
• Tactical alertness. In your most recent win you exploited 22.Nd4 Nxd4 23.Rxe8+ and followed up with precise simplification (
  ). Your pieces often spring to life as soon as a file opens.
• Time handling in 3-minute games. You average 15–25 seconds ahead on the clock, which is non-trivial in this time control.

Growth opportunities

• Piece coordination when the centre is closed.
  In the loss versus Eric Hansen you reached a blocked Sicilian structure where plans matter more than tactics. Your bishops stepped back to f8–e7–d8 while White improved every piece. Try asking yourself “Which piece is worst and where does it belong?” on every move in quiet positions.
• Kingside dark-square weaknesses.
  A recurring pattern in losses is an early …f6 (French) or …f5 (Sicilian) that weakens e6–g6. Consider holding …f-pawns until you are certain the centre is stable, or prepare the push with …Kh8/…Re8 first.
• End-game conversion.
  Against JDPAchess a winning pawn race turned into a mating net after 55.g4? Drill technical rook-and-pawn endings (e.g. Chess.com “Rooks & Pawns” module) and practice converting with 20-second increments to reduce blunders caused by haste.
• Practical opening tweaks.
  • As Black versus the Rossolimo-type a4/a5 ideas After 10…Bd7 13…e5?! left your queen’s knight without a retreat. More thematic is 13…Rc8 followed by …Na5 and …b5, fighting on the queenside instead of the centre.

Action plan for the next two weeks

1. Annotate one slow game each day; focus on turning points where you moved a piece twice while an opponent improved another piece once.
2. Run the “Avoid king-side pawn loosening” filter in your database: tag every instance of …f6/…f5 in the first 20 moves and note the resulting score.
3. Spend 15 minutes daily on the rook-and-pawn technique section of end-game studies; aim for 50 successful drills this fortnight.
4. Spar three training games from the following starting positions:
   • Sicilian: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 (improve Black plan).
   • French Advance: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 (work on Black piece development without …f6).
   • Closed centre Italian: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6.

Progress trackers

Final note

Your creativity is a real asset; the next leap comes from blending that creativity with disciplined structure-building and airtight end-game play. Keep enjoying the journey — looking forward to seeing your next breakthrough!