Coach Chesswick
Hi Bao Truong!
You have built a solid base around the 500-rating mark (), and your games already show a nice mix of creativity and tactical alertness. Below is a personalised review based on your last handful of games.
What you are doing well
- Activity over material. In several victories (e.g. vs. slaggl) you willingly gave pawns to seize open lines and initiative – a great habit for rapid chess.
- Piece coordination. The win against “OliverLagunaBeach” featured the fine sequence 17. Bg5+! followed by doubled rooks on the e-file – your minor pieces and rooks worked together smoothly.
- Opening courage. You try Englund Gambits, early h4/Rh1 ideas, and knight hops such as Na7+. Experimentation is invaluable at this stage.
Recurring issues to address
- Time-trouble losses. 4 of your last 5 defeats were on time. Often your position was still holdable (or even winning) when the flag fell. Good moves are worth nothing if they arrive after 0:00.
- King safety & back-rank tactics.
• Against “Tuantrongphan” you allowed …Qf2# on move 20.
• Versus “daksh27032010” the king stayed in the centre and walked into a mating net.
• In the loss to “HAF0011” your Kf5 wandered into a mating box after neglecting pawn shields.
Castling early and keeping one pawn in front of the king would have avoided each of these disasters. - Premature pawn thrusts. Moves like 7…g5 (opponent) or your own 7. f4, 6. e5 quickly create weaknesses you later struggle to cover.
- Overlooking basic tactics. Missing forks such as 15…Rxb2+ (which you found in a win) but overlooking simpler ideas when under pressure suggests you would benefit from daily puzzle training.
Action plan for the next two weeks
- Time-management drill. Play 10–15 games at 3 + 2 or 5 + 3. Force yourself to reach move 10 with at least 90 % of your clock remaining. The increment removes flag-fear and lets you practise playing
- Safety first openings. As White against 1…e5 try the Italian Game with quiet lines (d3 instead of d4) and focus on fast castling. As Black, add a simple system such as the Scandinavian (which you already use) but castle by move 9 whenever possible.
- Daily tactics set. 20 puzzles/day, rating 300-800. Emphasise motifs: back-rank mates, double attacks, and pins.
- Mini-endgame workout. Recreate the ending from your loss to “duongbaochan” on a board. Try to hold with just 60 seconds. Repeat until you can save the draw – this will build “nervous-time-scramble” confidence.
- Self-review routine. After every session pick one win and one loss, run them through your own head before using an engine, and write a 3-bullet summary of lessons learned.
Illustrative game fragment
Below is your cleanest recent win. Replay it once, then replay it again pretending you are Black and try to find improvements – this two-sided review sharpens objectivity.
[[Pgn|1.d4 e5 2.c4 exd4 3.Qxd4 Nf6 4.e3 c6 5.Nc3 d5 6.Bd2 dxc4 7.Bxc4 Qxd4 8.exd4 Be6 9.Bxe6 fxe6 10.O-O-O Nbd7 11.Re1 O-O-O 12.Nf3 e5 13.Nxe5 Nxe5 14.dxe5 Nd5 15.Nxd5 Rxd5 16.e6 Be7 17.Re4 Rhd8 18.Bf4 g6 19.Kc2 Rc5+ 20.Kb3 Rb5+ 21.Kc4 Ra5 22.Rc1 Rdd5 23.Kb3 Rdb5+ 24.Kc2 Rxa2 25.Kb1 Raxb2+ 26.Ka1 R2b4 27.Rc2 Rxe4 28.Bd2 Ra4+ 29.Ra2 Rxa2#]Progress tracker
Keep an eye on when (and against whom) you are scoring best:
- Hourly performance:
- Day-of-week performance:
Good luck, Bao! Keep the games coming and feel free to share any positions you struggle with.