Coach Chesswick
Sidereal-Time – Personal Post-Game Review
1. What You’re Already Doing Well
- Adaptable opening play in Chess960. Your recent wins show you quickly identify safe king positions and castle (e.g. 12. O-O-O in your win vs. lorudar).
- Tactical alertness. Seizing material with
20. Bxc3and22. Qxa8in the second game illustrates good calculation once the position opens. - Resilience in complicated middlegames. You often keep the initiative even after early exchanges and are willing to sac pawns for piece activity.
- Steady rating progress. Your peak so far in 3 | 2 live Chess960 is . Keep building on this momentum!
2. Biggest Growth Opportunities
- Time management. Two of your last five losses were on the clock. Most critical positions see you drop under 10 s with >15 moves remaining. Adopt a “find a safe move in 5 seconds” rule when low on time.
- Early queen adventures. In the loss versus mattack9999 the sequence
11… Qxa2 12.Bxd8 Qa1+won a pawn but cost tempi and coordination. Ask: “Will the queen still be well placed three moves later?” before grabbing. - Handling flank pawn storms. Several opponents used …g6/…f5 or h-pawn pushes to open lines against your king. Study typical pawn-break themes in the Modern Defense and Dutch-type structures.
- Endgame conversion. Your victory vs. playerinvicta reached a won position on move 33 but you needed an opponent disconnect to finish. Practise converting basic rook + pawn endgames so clock pressure is reduced.
3. Quick Wins for the Coming Week
- Blitz out the first 10 moves with a plan. In 960, decide on (i) king safety square, (ii) which central pawn to advance, before your first move. This habit can save 20–30 s every game.
- Use the two-second increment. Make a “heartbeat move” every three seconds when under 15 s. It is better to give a check or improve king position than to flag while calculating a mate.
- Daily tactics. 20 puzzles focusing on forks & double attacks will directly address positions like 6.Nb7+ in the Shucher game.
- Endgame flash cards. Spend 10 minutes a day on basic rook-endgame drilling (Lucena & Philidor). They appear frequently after heavy piece trades in Chess960.
4. Suggested Training Plan (2-Hour Block)
| Segment | Duration | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Tactics Trainer | 30 min | Forks, skewers, trapped queens |
| Model Games | 20 min | Watch 2 annotated Chess960 GM games |
| Endgame Drill | 20 min | Rook + pawns vs. rook |
| Blitz Session (3 | 2) | 40 min | Apply new time rules; review immediately |
| Notebook Update | 10 min | Write one key lesson & one recurring mistake |
5. Performance Snapshots
Hover or tap to explore:
6. Highlight Tactic
The following miniature from your win vs. Lorudar shows excellent exploitation of an overloaded knight. Replay it once to memorise the pattern:
7. One-Sentence Challenge
In the next 20 games, aim to finish every move with at least 3 seconds on your clock – the wins will follow naturally.
Good luck and enjoy the board!