You are a natural attacker
Your recent wins against <cagnusmarlsen1990 show that you know how to create threats and hunt the enemy king. You make purposeful use of space to cramp the opponent, and you are not afraid to go after a king that is still in the center.
In particular, your attacking skills around the enemy castle are strong. A lot of your wins come from making the opponent react quickly, while you keep building pressure. This is a huge strength in blitz, because an opponent who feels chased will often miss a simple defense.
Look back at [[Link|game|sofia|doctorod]]. Or in plain text: View Game..
What is slowing you up
Your main leak shows up when the game slows down. You often prefer direct attacks and messy positions, which is good, but the danger is that you leave your own pieces unprotected. In your recent loss to npenha02?, you reached the endgame with rook play, and your pieces gradually became more passive.
In a rook endgame, you want the rook active, fighting on wide open files, and your king helping in the middle. On the other hand, if the rook is tied to defense, you give the opponent the timing they need. When the queens came off, the game became a long defense, and the opponent was able to push their king forward with the rook and pawns.
“Just grabbing material” is against your attacking style? It loses momentum. Before every capture, check whether the new position still gives you a path to the enemy king, or whether it turns the game into a patient endgame that you may not play as well.
Example of the difference
Your clean checkmate win against CagnusMarlsen1990 is a good model. The enemy queen had to keep running, and you caught the king with a strong attack.
The loss against npenha02 is the same size of lesson: you defended for a long time, but you gave the opponent time to take on a great king walk. If you can take the same energetic “king killer” rhythm and combine it with “protecting your own king” in the endgame, I believe you will gain more consistency.
Smart practice for your blitz
Your opening choices give good exits, and you usually do a fine job of developing knights and bishops. But when the middle game complex, you often want to make only the most forcing moves. That is good, but you can restart to build a deeper plan.
How to improve the two weak spots:
- Keep your own king safe every time you move. Before you start a pawn chase, ask, “Does this give a escape or allow my back rank to be open?”
- Stud free rook endgames for at least 10 or 20 puzzles. Rook endgames are common and they are won by the player who pushes the king forward.
- Use longer questions after the game. Save one or two moves where you missed a simple enemy reply. If you get used to “opponent sees it, what can they take?” it will raise your defensive alertness.
You already have the courage to challenge the king, and that is a skill that cannot be taught. Add a little detail around the king and a bit of patience in the [[Link|opening|endgame]], and you can turn recent losses into wins.