Evgeniy Trakht

Hi Evgeniy!

Great job steadily holding the 1800-plus range! Your recent streak shows you can string together strong tactical wins such as the following miniature:

What you are already doing well

• Tactical alertness. In several wins you sense the moment to break with f4/f5 or g4-g5 and convert pressure into material.
• Initiative with White. Your games against the Dragon and French Exchange show you like keeping the king in the centre, castling long and attacking on the kingside.
• Clock handling in winning positions. Almost every win ends with <30 s for the opponent and >40 s for you―good time management when you are on top.

Patterns in your recent losses

1. Sicilian as Black: Four of the six recent losses start 1.e4 c5 … you entered the Taimanov, Accelerated Dragon and Wing Gambit but were out-prepared. Positions quickly became sharp and you defended passively.
2. Under-estimating passed pawns. In the loss to illeerio the protected b-pawn marched all the way while your pieces were tied up.
3. Pieces on the rim. In both French Exchange defeats you allowed …Nf4/…Qh4 and became the target. Watching for the opponent’s prophylaxis ideas will help.
4. End-game technique. Every lost game reached a minor-piece or rook ending with material equality but worse structure. You often pushed pawns too fast (e.g. 44.b4 in the Taimanov game) creating new weaknesses.

Action plan (next 4-6 weeks)

• Patch the Sicilian repertoire. Either:
  • Commit to one main line (Taimanov / Kan / Classical) and study 10 model games, or
  • Switch to 1…e5; you already handle Giuoco & Ponziani well with Black.
• End-game checkpoint.
  1. Every session finish with 10 minutes of K+P vs K and rook endings.
  2. Re-play the critical endings from your losses; set the start position on a board and ask “How do I hold this?”
• Blunder-reduction routine. Before every move run a 3-step scan:
  1. “What did my opponent just threaten?” (Zwischenzug possibilities)
  2. “If I move this piece, what changes?”
  3. Quick back-rank & pawn-push safety check.
  Doing this for 15 games will make it a habit.
• Puzzle mix. 30 per day: 10 basic mates, 10 intermediate tactics, 10 end-game studies. Focus on quiet moves—they are often what you miss in defence.
• Annotate just one game per day. Mark every move with “✓”, “?”, or “?!” and write one sentence about critical moments. Quality beats quantity for learning.

Progress widgets

1982 (2024-04-15)  

Mini-checklist for tournament play

• First 10 moves: follow your prep.
• Move 11-20: coordinate pieces before pawn storms.
• After each capture: ask “What changed on back rank and diagonals?”
• End-game: activate king immediately; avoid putting pawns on the color of your remaining bishop.

Keep the attacking spirit, Evgeniy, but add a layer of strategic patience. One month of targeted practice will easily push you past 1900. Good luck!