Stela Souza Farhat Willemstein WFM

Hi Stela Souza Farhat Willemstein!

Great job keeping an active playing schedule and scoring several sharp wins. Below you’ll find personalised feedback based on your latest games, with concrete ideas for quick improvement.

1. Quick Glance

• Peak blitz rating so far: 1808 (2021-02-19)
• Typical play-times:
  (use this to spot when you’re most alert)
• Weekly consistency:

2. What You’re Doing Well

• Initiative seeker. You willingly grab space with pawn storms (g- & h-pawns in the Sicilian Scheveningen) and keep pieces active.
• Tactical vision. Your latest win versus esr_rp featured the nice 10…Nxf3+!  followed by 15…Nxd3+!, showing good calculation skills.
• Practical mindset. You choose openings (e.g. Open Sicilian, Caro-Kann Exchange as White) that lead to rich, unbalanced middlegames—perfect for rapid/blitz.

3. Main Areas to Tackle Next

A) Time Management

Four of your last five losses were on time while the position was still playable.

• Adopt a simple checkpoint system: after moves 10, 20 and 30 glance at the clock; aim to keep >40 s, >25 s, >10 s respectively in 60 + 1 games.
• When the position is forcing, pre-move obvious recaptures. Even two saved seconds often decide blitz endings.

B) Opening Clean-up

Sicilian Dragon / Scheveningen (Black)

• Your plan …g6/…Bg7/…Nc6 is fine, but twice you allowed Bg5 followed by Nxe7+ forks (see loss vs mukulomanan).
• Memorise the antidote: 8…h6 (against Bg5) or 8…a6 – 9…h6; later meet Bxf6 with …Bxf6, keeping e7 defended.

Scandinavian & Caro-Kann (White)

• In the loss to papa12042012 the manoeuvre Ne6! was strong but consumed 25 s. Rehearse this standard idea so it becomes instant.
• After exchanging on d5 in the Caro-Kann, don’t rush b4/b5 before castling; you dropped flags while still in the middlegame.

C) Endgame Technique

• You checkmated efficiently in the rook-and-pawn ending versus themonster10; keep repeating basic rook endings (Lucena, Philidor) so conversion feels automatic.
• Study rook vs passed pawns because two time-losses came from misplacing the king in such endings.

4. Sample Tactical Theme to Drill

The following mini-PGN shows the fork on e7 that hurt in your Dragon game — add it to your puzzle set.

5. Suggested Training Plan (4 weeks)

1. Tactics: 15 min/day of themed puzzles: knight forks, removal of the defender.
2. Openings: Build a 10-move repertoire file for each side of the Sicilian & Caro-Kann; revisit every Sunday.
3. Endgames: Two positions/night from Silman’s endgame course or Lichess drills.
4. Clock discipline: Play 5 games/week at 3 + 2 solely focusing on finishing with >20 s.

6. Motivation Corner

Your attacking flair is already above average for a 1450-1500 player. Tighten the clock and patch the few recurring tactical holes and 1600+ is well within reach. Keep enjoying the journey, and remember: every game—win or loss—is a free lesson in disguise.

Good luck, Stela! Feel free to share your progress any time.