Jason Davies

Quick summary — recent rapid form

Nice stretch of results — you’ve been converting a lot of middlegame/activity advantages into wins and your rating trend is solidly upward. Recent wins include games vs mohamed0_0ibrahim, surgeono and dannyjedi. Your most painful recent loss was against habib_uz and another on time vs Antonio Vitor.

• Strength-adjusted win rate ~50% — you're at or just above parity vs the field.
• Rated momentum: +50 last month, +150 last 3 months — clear improvement.
• Openings you crush: Semi-Slav Defense: Accelerated Meran Variation, King's Indian Defense: Larsen Variation, Sicilian Defense: Four Knights Variation, Cobra Variation.

What you’re doing well

• Good opening preparation in your best lines — high win rates in Semi‑Slav and the Larsen KID show repeatable, reliable systems.
• Handy at simplification: you willingly trade into favorable endgames (rook + king activity, connected passed pawns) and often convert them.
• Practical fighting style — you create imbalances (passed pawns, rook lifts) and push opponents into tough, immediate decisions.
• Time usage is generally competent — you keep enough on the clock to calculate critical pawn races and promotions.

Key things to improve (concrete)

From the recent games the same themes come up: pawn races, passed‑pawn defense, and tactical calculation around promotions.

• Stop runaway passed pawns earlier. Several games ended with opponent promoting on the a/b file or you losing because a passed pawn got free. When an opponent's pawn chain starts rolling, ask: can I blockade it? exchange the key piece? create a counter‑passer?
• Calculation in pawn‑races and queen/pawn endgames. When a pawn race is looming, calculate concrete promotion sequences instead of relying on heuristics (who has the most active king/rook/queen, tempo of pushing pawns).
• Improve conversion technique in rook endgames. You already reach rook+king themes — convert more reliably by watching opposition, cutting the king off, and keeping rook activity over pawn grabbing.
• Watch tactical motifs around back‑rank and horizontal checks. A few games show the opponent delivering decisive checks after pawn pushes or piece exchanges — maintain luft where needed and keep defensive resources in mind before simplifying.
• Target weaker openings in your repertoire. The Nimzo‑Indian Normal line shows sub‑50% performance — either tighten the theory there or avoid it if it leads into tricky positions you don’t like. Consider doubling down on the lines with the best career win rates. (Nimzo-Indian Defense: Normal Variation, Classical Defense).

Examples — a game moment to study

Study this sequence from your loss to habib_uz: a pawn push / rook lift / mating finish. Replay the critical phase and ask: what defense did I have earlier to prevent the pawn storm or the final mate?

Quick replay (key moves only):

[[Pgn|31...f3|32.Kf2|32...Be2|33.Rc1|33...Rf7|34.a4|34...g5|35.b4|35...Kg6|36.b5|36...h5|37.a5|37...h4|38.a6|38...bxa6|39.b6|39...hxg3+|40.hxg3|40...Rh7|41.Rc6+|41...Kh5|42.b7|42...Rxb7|43.Rd4|43...g4|44.Rd5#|orientation|white]

Replay that sequence and ask: where could I have traded differently, or kept a file closed so that the rook invasion didn’t happen?

Daily / weekly practice plan (4 weeks)

• Daily (20–30 min): tactics puzzles focused on mating nets and pawn promotions (sets with queen/rook checks and pawn push motifs).
• 3× / week (30–45 min): endgame drills — rook vs rook+pawn, king + pawns vs king, and queen & pawn endings. Make sure you can stop and create passed pawn races confidently.
• 2× / week (45–60 min): analyze one loss + one win from your recent rapid games. Write down alternatives at each turning point (candidate moves) before checking engine/notes.
• Weekly (1 game): play a rapid training match where your explicit goal is “prevent passed pawns” or “choose simplification only if you can convert” — force yourself to practice the weakness you identified.

Opening checklist — what to focus on

• Keep using the systems that show high win rates: Semi-Slav Defense: Accelerated Meran Variation and King's Indian Defense: Larsen Variation. Drill the typical pawn breaks and ideal piece setups so you reach middlegames you understand better than the opponent.
• For lines with mixed results (Closed Sicilian, Alapin), pick two specific sidelines and learn the critical endgames that arise — don’t try to memorize every sub‑variation.
• Either shore up the Nimzo-Indian Defense: Normal Variation, Classical Defense with a short recent model game + 5–10 key ideas, or sidestep it vs players who steer you into uncomfortable territory.

Practical tips for your next 10 rapid games

• Early middlegame: when the opponent starts a pawn storm on one wing, calculate a 3‑move refutation/containment plan before committing to pawn advances.
• Endgames: if you reach a rook + king vs rook scenario, prioritize cutting the king off and keeping your rook active instead of chasing pawns prematurely.
• Time management: in pawn‑race positions take the extra 10–20 seconds to visualize promotion sequences — those seconds often save the game.
• Post‑game routine: annotate one decisive moment per game (why you chose the move, what you missed). Over time this builds pattern recognition for the exact problems you’re facing.

Short-term goals (next month)

• Raise your strength‑adjusted win rate above 0.52 by reducing losses from pawn‑race/rook endgame errors.
• Fix one opening with below‑50% returns (Nimzo‑Indian) so it stops leaking rating.
• Convert two lost games into wins by applying the endgame checklist above (review and practice the exact final positions).

Final note — keep the good momentum

Your rating trend and win/loss record show you’re improving. Small focused work on pawn races, rook endgames, and a short opening cleanup will give you disproportionately large gains. If you like, tell me which opening you want to drill first and I’ll give a 2‑week study plan tailored to it.