Virgenie Ruaya

Quick summary

Nice stretch of solid play — you’re creating active pieces and converting practical advantages. Your recent wins show good queen activity and piece coordination; the recent loss highlights a tactical slip after a simplification that cost material. Keep building the positives and tighten a few recurring weak spots (time management and tactical awareness in sharp moments).

Profile: Virgenie Ruaya

Highlights — what you’re doing well

• Opening consistency: you repeatedly reach comfortable middlegame setups (d4 systems with Bd3/Qe2/Rac1) and know the plans — that gives you an edge in blitz.
• Piece activity and centralization: in the win vs sarahchua_pcap you placed a knight on e5 and used rooks and queen actively to pressure — that paid off.
• Endgame technique and perseverance: the long game vs Diana Banawa showed you can convert an advantage through patient queen play and pawn pushes — good instincts in simplified positions.
• Resilience: your Strength Adjusted Win Rate (~58%) and recent positive rating slope show you’re improving with practice.

Main areas to improve

• Watch tactical shots around simplifications. In the loss vs PCAP_eat you allowed a sequence that ended with Qxa1 / Bxa1 — avoid trades that leave your back rank or major-piece coordination vulnerable.
• Time management in blitz: several wins were on opponent time; that’s fine sometimes, but aim to keep a few extra seconds in the bank so you don’t need to rely on flagging. Use increment and quick safe moves earlier in the game to build time.
• Opening traps and transpositions: some lines (East Indian / Nbd2 systems) are tactical — get a checklist of common opponent ideas (pawn breaks c5/cxd4, Nb4/Na6 jumps) so you don’t get surprised.
• Endgame fundamentals: continue sharpening basic queen+pawn and rook endgames — you convert well, but speed and accuracy under the clock will turn more games into wins instead of draws or losses on time.

Concrete next steps (practice plan)

• Daily 10–15 min tactics: focus on forks, pins, and back-rank motifs. Blitz mistakes often come from missed simple tactics.
• Opening review (30–60 min/week): pick your main systems — East Indian Defense and the London Poisoned Pawn lines — and study 3 typical middlegame plans and one trap to avoid for each. Use model games, not only move lists. See East Indian Defense and London System: Poisoned Pawn Variation.
• Two slow games per week (15|10 or 30|0): practice converting advantages without relying on flagging. After each slow game, annotate 5 critical moments (candidate moves, missed tactics).
• Simple pre-move checklist (make it a habit): 1) Is any piece hanging? 2) Opponent threat? 3) Any tactical captures? 4) Does the move worsen my king safety? If in doubt, choose a safe developing move.
• Endgame drills: 10 short rook vs rook+pawn and queen vs rook+pawn positions. Convert common winning setups quickly.

Game-specific quick notes

• Win (2025.11.12 vs sarahchua_pcap): You handled the central knight jump (Ne5) very well and leveraged activity. Small tweak: when you have the initiative, try to keep the rooks on open files and avoid unnecessary pawn tinkering on the flank. Replay key phase:
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• Win (2025.10.22 vs Diana Banawa): Strong queen activity and correct simplifications into a winning king-and-pawn assault. Continue practicing these long conversions.
• Loss (2025.11.08 vs PCAP_eat): The key tactical sequence started after exchanges on the queenside — avoid trading into a position where opponent gets a back-rank battery or can target an undefended queen-side piece. On moves 25–31 there were forcing lines you could have checked for immediate threats (look two moves deeper when the opponent plays active queen/rook moves).

Practical checklist for your next 20 blitz games

• Before move 10: reach a plan — kingside castle, develop rooks to c1/rb1, identify the pawn break (c5 or e5).
• Every time you consider a queen trade: ask “Does this help or hurt my piece coordination?” If it helps the opponent more, avoid it.
• If down material: simplify only if it creates immediate drawing chances. Otherwise keep complications and use the clock.
• After each loss, write one sentence why you lost (tactics, time, opening, endgame). Keep a small log — patterns are gold.

Encouragement & next check-in

Your rating trends show clear improvement over the last 3–6 months (positive slope). Keep the focused training above for four weeks and we should see that slope continue upward. Send me 3 games (mix of a win, loss, and unclear game) after that period and I’ll give targeted micro-feedback.

Small reward: pick one opening you enjoy and call it your "Book" for the month — stick to it and refine plans instead of memorizing moves. Good work — you’re trending the right way.