Coach Chesswick
Hi sitsonthefence, here’s some constructive feedback based on your latest games!
What you are doing well
- Dynamic French Defense – Your games with Black show a healthy mix of classical setups (Exchange, Winawer-ish, Advance). You aren’t afraid to strike with …c5/…c6 at the right moment and you often out-calculate opponents in the early middlegame. A nice example is the tactical sequence
which netted you a pawn and the bishop pair. - Practical Endgame Technique – Wins against arianlondon8 and Kostok10 featured accurate king activity and conversion of extra material. You consistently activate the rook behind passed pawns and centralise the king – keep it up!
- Killer Instinct – When you sense the initiative you finish games quickly (e.g. 16-move win vs. Sanin98). That shows good tactical vision and confidence.
Key themes to improve
- Time management
Three of the last five losses (vs. goldlichking, Squark9000, and pashovsk) came in positions that were objectively defensible or even better for you, but the clock beat you. Try the 3 + 2 time control occasionally, and practise “chunking” your think-time:- Opening phase: play from memory / prep – 15-20 s maximum.
- Critical middlegame decisions: allow 30-40 s, but then commit.
- Convert with premoves when the position is clearly winning.
- Grünfeld / Neo-Grünfeld structures
In the loss to Lawrence White you entered a topical pawn-sac line but mis-judged the move order with 12……b5?! and 15……Qd7. Against the pawn wedge on d6 you needed 17……Re8followed by …Bf8 and …Re6. Consider revisiting this line or switching to a more solid King’s Indian setup until you’re comfortable. - Holding bad positions
The French-Tarrasch loss vs. DarkkChoupinou shows that once you fall worse you sometimes rush the counter-attack (18……e5?) instead of regrouping. Study master games where Black sits tight and waits for the extra pawn to matter. - Conversion technique vs. passed pawns
Against pashovsk you allowed connected passers because the rook visited b-file squares repeatedly instead of cutting the king with 38……Kg5-h5-h4. Add 15 min of rook-and-pawn endgame drills to each study session.
Action plan for the next two weeks
| Day | Focus | Resources / Drills |
|---|---|---|
| Mon-Wed | Neo-Grünfeld repair | Replay 5 GM games → annotate key plans; practise with engine sparring. |
| Thu-Fri | Rook endings | “Lucena & Philidor” + 20 random rook-vs-pawn positions (CT-like trainer). |
| Sat-Sun | Time-control discipline | Play 10 games of 3 + 2; log time spent per move; aim for <20 s avg. |
Stats & Monitoring
- Current Blitz peak: 2399 (2025-04-12) (aim +50 in one month).
- Follow your improvement with
and .