Somak Palit IM

Hi Somak!

You have been playing a lot of high-quality Blitz recently. Below is a quick snapshot of how things are going, followed by focused advice.

At-a-glance

• Current peak blitz rating: 2668 (2020-06-05)
• Typical activity pattern:
   

What you are doing well

1. Dynamic piece play. In your latest win against Noys2002 you sacrificed a pawn to seize the open e-file, then finished with the elegant …Re1#. Great appreciation of piece coordination.
2. King-side pressure with the f-pawn. Games vs ThePandaWarrior and Noys2002 show how comfortably you push f4 / f5 to break dark-square shields.
3. Tactical eyesight. You rarely miss a direct tactic when the clock is reasonable; your conversion after 28…Rxe5!! was clean.

Biggest improvement levers

1. Opening discipline with the queen.
   • The 6-move loss in the Scandinavian (…Qxb4??) highlights a recurring pattern: early pawn-grabs that ignore development. Memorise the critical trap 4.b4! and choose the solid line 3…Qa5 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.d4 c6.
   • In the English loss vs rsbecker your queen visited h4   →   h5 twice, costing several tempi. Re-evaluate every queen move: “Does this create an unstoppable threat now? If not, develop something else.”
2. Clock management.
   Four of your last six defeats were on time in roughly equal or even winning positions. Practical tips:
   
   • Adopt a minimum time per move rule in the opening (≈1-2 s) to avoid burning 20 seconds on familiar positions.
   • Use “safe premoves” (recaptures, forced checks).
   • Play a few 3 + 2 or 5 + 3 games each session to practise making fast but sound moves under increment.
3. Endgame acceleration.
   The timeout versus mahidhonichampstein occurred in a drawable rook ending. Drill basic rook endings (Philidor, Lucena) so the correct maneuvers become automatic, saving precious seconds.

Targeted action plan (next two weeks)

Opening tweaks to consider

• As Black vs e4: Stay with your solid 1…c5 systems. If you want variety, the Accelerated Dragon marries well with your love of g-fianchetto structures without early queen exposure.
• As Black vs d4: The Modern Benoni (you already create Benoni pawn structures with …c5/d6) offers clear plans and tactical opportunities you enjoy.

Final encouragement

Your attacking instincts are excellent; polishing the first 10 moves and managing the clock will unlock another 100–150 Elo quickly. Keep the energy high, review each loss for one concrete lesson, and you’ll see rapid progress.

Good luck and happy hunting on the 64 squares!