What You're Doing Well
Your opening preparation is clearly paying off in the
- In the first win, you set up a strong pawn chain, opened the side of the Sicilian leading to a passed pen, then used your pawns together to promote. Review that pattern in the second win and see how quiet moves like preparing pawn advances did more than flashy attacks.
- Your endgame work in those two wins was pragmatic. You centralised your king, used the majority on the king's side, and then turned it into an outside passed pawn. That is a repeatable formula when the board opens up.
Focus Areas for Improvement
Your recent defeats share a common thread: the positions you reached are less familiar counterns. When you are pushed outside your usual lines, the same energy is not turned into a coherent plan.
- King safety before trying to create your own pawn breaks. In the loss to Liordis Quesada Vera you had a two-knight Italian-style setup but pushed the g-pawn on the edge of the centre, making your king much more vulnerable. Even when the game appeared equal, your opponent's king got active once the queens left. Aim to only make such three moves when you have already switched your pieces or created enough counterplay. A good moment to study the flaw is around move 23 in your game and then see how the central king walk decided it.
- Activate the king along with the pieces in quiet ending. Against the Other of the same opponent, you spent many moves shuffling a single bishop while your opponent's king marched towards the queen side. In any piece trade, think about promoting your king at least one row toward the middle. A passive ending is a slowly losing ending.
- Be careful of repeated “home” moves with the same piece. In the London System loss against BlankFace04, the final position was lost because while you kept chasing a possible queen side push, your opponent was reflex the b-file and the c-pawn . Notice the moment your exchange of queens left a pure pawn endgame where your passed pawn was well blockaded. When defending, identify the strongest piece and hold it to fight for the key squares.
- Do not let your time disappear in the opening. In the loss to sicilian Gambit against Alexchess1984, you also went low on time before the position became complicated. A repetitive small move like recapturing at home plus one pawn-pushing moment cost you margin. In 3&0 blitz, if you have ~1 minute left, start using your remaining time to find forced replies, not to reconfirm known theory.
Small Habits That Will Help
- Yarning your royal side after a kingside castling. Rolled a fast check after ..., become aware of weak squares around the king. Look for your opponent’s “Greek gifts” and don’t create a hole for the enemy rook.
- Use your a-pawn’s push more intentionally. In your main Sicilian, your a-pawn often becomes a useful passer once the other side gets the trade in the center. Even when you lose the bishop pair, you can live with it if your pawn majority stays dynamic.
- As practice, play the next 10 daily games with the plan: “centralise the king after every second exchange.” Not always, but it forces you to stop shuffling with the g-pawn and gives you a reliable rule when you lack a concrete plan.
You already have a strong tactical foundation at high speed. The main step now is not necessarily to learn more opening ideas, but to sharpen the feeling for which kinds of endgame your moves will lead to. If you can turn one lose ending a week into a draw or a win, the rating trend will continue in your favour. Keep playing those Sicilian lines, and bring the same courage to new positions by improving your defence of the king.