Ademola Sorungbe CM

Hi Ademola, here’s some personalised feedback based on your recent games.

What you’re already doing well ✅

• Dynamic play with White in the Open Sicilian. Your 5.Nxc6 Lowenthal win shows excellent piece activity and a keen eye for initiative-grabbing moves such as 9.Bg5! and 13.b4! which kept Black on the back foot.
• Grünfeld-style structures with Black. Both D82 and D94 victories display confident central counter-punching (…c5, …Na5/…Nc6 ideas) and good end-game technique. Stick with this line – it suits your tactical style.
• Tactical alertness in complex middlegames. Converting the extra exchange vs taglit and spotting 27…Rb8–b1+ against Evgechernykh highlight strong calculation skills when the position becomes sharp.

Main improvement themes ➡️

1. Early-king-safety lapses in French structures.
   • Loss to ronaldberdera: 7…f5?! weakened the dark squares and 9…Kf8 left the king stranded.
   • Exchange French defeat vs houdinibarua: castling long without completing development invited counter-play.
   Action: Choose one solid French line (e.g. the Rubinstein with 3…Nf6 or Classical 3…Nf6 4.Bg5 Bb4+) and study the typical plans; avoid premature pawn thrusts like …f5 until you’re fully developed.
2. Handling the Scheveningen-Sozin as White.
   Several losses (to RemKoolhas & sigmalonewolf6) came from the same structure: you played f4–e5 but didn’t meet …dxe5 …Nfd7 accurately and fell behind on the clock.
   Action: Add the main-line 11.Be3 Qc7 12.Qf3 ideas to your repertoire, or switch to 6.Be2 sidelines which are less theory-heavy.
3. Time-management in critical positions.
   You flagged or plunged below ten seconds in four of the six losses. This suggests over-investing time in the opening/middlegame.
   Action: Use a simple “40/40/20” rule as a guide – aim to have 40 % of your time after move 15 and 20 % for the final 10 moves. Practise playing thematic positions against an engine at increment 0 to build intuition speed.

Opening snapshot

Recommendation: Against 1.e4 pick ONE main defence (either French or Caro-Kann) and commit to learning the structures in depth.

Training plan for the next 4 weeks

• Day 1–7: Drill 50 puzzles focused on defending against queen-side attacks and dark-square weaknesses. Use the “Defence” filter in your tactics trainer.
• Day 8–14: Create a custom Lichess/Chess.com opening trainer for the French Rubinstein (Black) and the Sozin 6…e6 7…Be7 lines (White). Spend 15 min daily on spaced-repetition.
• Day 15–21: Play at least ten 15 | 10 games using a physical board to enforce slower, structured thinking. Annotate each game briefly (win or lose).
• Day 22–28: End-game week – study rook + pawn vs rook endings (because several of your wins reached R+P phases). Solve 30 end-game studies, then play engine defence/attack drills.

Key stats & visual trackers

Peak Blitz rating:
Hour-by-hour performance:

Game of the week

The attacking Lowenthal (June 6) is a model for future Sicilian battles – replay it and annotate why 10.Qf3! and 14.Ne3! worked so well.

Final takeaway

You’re already operating at a high level; incremental improvements in opening depth against 1.e4 and time handling could push you beyond the 2350-2400 mark. Stay consistent, review each loss for a single actionable change, and enjoy the journey!