Coach Chesswick
Hi Zuhao (Luke) Li, here’s a personalised post-match review
1. What you already do very well
- Opening variety – You comfortably switch between 1.e4 and 1.d4 / 1.Nf3 systems. This flexibility is rare at your level and keeps opponents guessing.
• Your Giuoco Piano win versus Julia Alboredo shows model development and an early ...Nxe4 d5 central break.
• The Catalan structures you choose as White demonstrate a good grasp of long-term space advantages. - Tactical alertness – You convert middlegame advantages quickly when pieces are flying (e.g. 18…Nxe5! in the French Win).
- Psychology – When facing higher-rated players you still choose principled, ambitious moves (16.Nd5! against Eric Lobron).
2. Repeated issues to address
- Time management
Two recent defeats came from the clock rather than the board. You often enter critical positions with <20 seconds, which hurts calculation quality. - Converting initiative into a safe king
Loss PGN shows the pattern attack – over-press – exposed king. Example (Kan Sicilian):
After 19…Kh8 the attack fizzles and your king is suddenly the target. - Piece coordination vs pawn storms
Several losses feature pawn pushes (…h5/…g5 or …b5/…c4) that drove your pieces backward. Aim to keep major pieces connected before launching pawn breaks.
3. Action plan for the next 30 games
- Adopt a “2-minute rule” – never let your clock drop below 2:00 before move 20 in 3-minute games. Blunt but effective.
- End every calculation with a king-safety checklist (checks, captures, threats, loose pieces). This habit would have avoided 21.Nf5?? in the Kan.
- Deep-dive one critical endgame weekly – Your wins often end before endgames; make sure you can convert slightly better rook endings if the attack stalls.
- Create a “no-pawn-moves” practice game – Play training games where you restrict yourself from pushing flank pawns until move 15; this forces you to improve piece coordination first.
- Add tactics on piece sacrifice into discovered attacks. Your attacking style will benefit from recognising the zwischenzug possibilities that often appear one ply deeper.
4. Micro targets to measure
- Average remaining time on move 25 > 25 seconds.
- Clock-losses ≤ 1 in the next 30 blitz games.
- Conversion rate with > +3.0 engine eval after move 20 to reach 90 % (currently ≈ 78 %).
5. Useful dashboards
Your best performance cluster currently appears late evenings; consider scheduling serious sessions then.
6. Motivation boost
Your current peak 2806 (2019-10-09) is already top-1 % on the platform. Cleaning up the two recurring issues above is realistically worth another 75-100 ELO in three months.Keep the curiosity burning and good luck with your next games, Luke!