Oleg Kozlov IM

Oleg, great fighting spirit!

You have been hovering around 2737 (2025-04-29) with a very respectable tactical awareness. Your recent victories show both creativity (the g3–Bg2 double-fianchetto setups) and excellent conversion technique in technical endings. Below are a few focused remarks to help you climb to the next tier.

What you already do well

• Opening variety & understanding. You comfortably switch between the King’s Indian Fianchetto and Closed/Grand Prix Sicilians, often steering play into middlegames you understand better than your opponents.
• Counter-punching under pressure. In your win over NMBraveheart0820 you calmly absorbed Black’s queenside play and then seized the initiative with 24.Nxb5! and 28.b5!, taking over the c-file.
• End-game persistence. The game against Mikhal867 shows solid technique: you activated the king early and kept the passed pawn rolling until the flag fell.

Key areas for growth

1. Time management

Five of your last seven losses featured <10 seconds on your clock by move 35. Even when you are slightly better you slip into “panic-pre-move” mode and accuracy drops.

• Use the first 10–15 moves to bank time, not to spend it. If you know the position, move instantly.
• Adopt a “minimum 15 seconds” rule: when the clock first dips under 15 s, liquidate tension or simplify.
• Train in 5 | 5 or 10 | 0 sessions to practise calculating without perpetual time trouble.

2. Pawn-storm discipline when behind in development

Your loss to Hans_L4145 began with the enthusiastic 5.h4 6.g4 7.g5—but the queen-side pieces were still asleep. Once Black broke with …c5 you had no king safety.

Guideline: “Three minor pieces developed before launching a flank pawn storm.”

3. Dutch/Leningrad structures as Black

The defeat against DvaHrasta revealed hesitation in typical Leningrad plans. You played the correct thematic …f5 and …d6, but missed:

• …e5 break after …Re8 instead of the slow …Qe8–c8 maneuver;
• timely queenside counterplay with …c6–d5, freeing the dark-square bishop.

Suggested drill: annotate 3–5 games by established Leningrad specialists (e.g. Malaniuk, Kramnik) and identify recurring move orders.

4. Tactical clean-up

A handful of tactical oversights still creep in, often connected to loose pieces on opposite wings. Adding 20–30 puzzles/day filtered for “very hard” motifs (double attack, deflection) will reinforce pattern recognition.

Quick homework plan

1. Re-play move 20 onward of the Hans_L4145 game and note every move that gave your opponent an uncontested tempo (tempo).
2. Solve 50 end-game studies this week; focus on king activity.
3. Build a mini-repertoire file of 10 critical Dutch/Leningrad tabiyas with best plans on both sides.
4. Play a 10-game set of 10 | 0 to practise staying above 60 seconds by move 25.

Your performance snapshot

Below charts summarise recent trends—use them to schedule training when win-rate dips.

Keep the momentum!

You are already on the cusp of master strength. Polishing time usage and tightening early-pawn adventures will add 50–70 rating points quickly. Stay confident and keep analysing your own games—especially the losses.

Good luck in your next Titled Tuesday run, and remember: “Solid first, creative later.” I’m here whenever you need another review.