SlowFeasus IM

Overview of your recent daily games

Your recent games show a strong opening toolkit and solid middlegame creativity. You’ve had a mix of outcomes including a win, a loss, and a draw. The win demonstrates you can press a position to the end, the loss highlights the impact of time pressure or a complex middlegame, and the draw shows you can hold balanced positions. Focusing on clean conversion from the middlegame to the endgame and tightening time management will help you turn more opportunities into wins.

What you do well

• You have a versatile opening repertoire and handle a variety of setups with confidence. This gives you chances to steer games into positions you like.
• Your openings often lead to dynamic middlegames where your piece activity and pressure create tactical chances.
• You show resilience in longer games, able to press when you have initiative and to defend when needed.
• You perform especially well in several lines that lead to favorable middlegame structures, suggesting a good sense of strategic planning after the opening.

Key areas to improve

• Time management: In longer or tactical battles, ensure you allocate time to verify critical planning ideas and avoid rushing on key decisions. Practicing with stricter time budgets can help you keep a steadier pace in real games.
• Endgame conversion: Work on recognizing when you have a tangible edge in the middlegame and how to convert it in the endgame, especially in rook and minor-piece endings. Short, focused endgame practice can pay off in many games.
• Tactical accuracy and pattern recognition: Regular tactical puzzles (15–20 minutes daily) will improve your ability to spot forcing lines and avoid blunders in sharp positions.
• Middlegame planning after the opening: When the board opens up, spend a moment to identify a plan (target weak pawns, control key files, or fix the opponent's weaknesses) rather than moving impulsively.
• Opening practice with mixed results: Some lines perform better than others. Focus on reinforcing the plans and typical middlegame ideas for your strongest openings, and be mindful of lines that have shown more risk or complexity.

Concrete training plan for the next two weeks

• Endgame focus (days 1–4): Practice rook endings and simple king-and-pawn endings. Learn a few standard technique patterns and how to convert a small material edge into a win.
• Tactical pattern work (days 2–7): Solve a steady stream of puzzles (about 15–20 minutes per day) focusing on common motifs like forks, skewers, discovered attacks, and endgame tacticals.
• Middlegame planning (days 3–9): In 2–3 practice games, pause after the opening phase to write down a brief plan based on pawn structure and piece activity, then try to follow that plan in the next 10 moves.
• Opening reinforcement (days 5–12): Create a short cheat sheet for your top three openings, outlining typical middlegame plans, target squares, and common pawn structures. Review and memorize key ideas.
• Time management drill (ongoing): Play practice games with a built-in clock discipline (e.g., decide on a plan within the first 3–5 minutes for the opening, then allocate time to the middlegame and endgame phases).

Openings performance snapshot

Your results show strength in several lines and some variability in others. Notable strengths include:

• London System: Poisoned Pawn Variation and related solid systems, where you’ve achieved consistently strong results.
• Bird Opening and related flexible setups, showing clean development and quick central/action plans.
• A number of aggressive, tactical lines such as certain Amazon Attack branches, where you can seize initiative early.

Be mindful of openings with mixed results, such as some Dragon variations where the position can become complex. When you’re comfortable, continue using the strong lines, but also invest in understanding typical middlegame plans from those openings to avoid getting overwhelmed in sharp lines.

Rating trend context

You’ve faced a period of modest decline in rating across multiple windows. A practical way to address this is to focus on consistent practice routines and targeted improvements (endgames, tactics, and planning). Set a weekly objective, such as converting a drawn endgame into a win or reducing the number of blunders by a fixed amount, and track progress with short, focused reviews after each game.

Next steps and encouragement

• Review your most recent loss to identify whether time pressure or a specific tactical miscalculation was the main issue, and write down concrete fixes.
• Adopt a short, daily routine combining puzzles, endgame drills, and a review of one opening line you use frequently.
• Schedule one focused game per day where you consciously implement a plan after the opening phase and evaluate how well you stick to it.
• If you’d like, I can tailor a personalized two-week plan and attach a sample game with annotated insights. You can also share a fresh PGN for a quick review. SlowFeasus