Vladimir Feldman IM

Personalised Feedback for Vladimir “vzf” Feldman

Big-picture overview

Current strength: strong club level, hovering just above 1670 (2020-08-02). Your games show a clear preference for English/Fianchetto structures with White and Hyper-Accelerated Dragon/Grünfeld set-ups with Black. The style is dynamic and initiative-oriented, but some structural and clock-handling issues are holding you back against 2300+ opposition.

What you already do well

• Dynamic tactical vision. In your win versus CaseStudy25 you uncorked 15.Nxe6!! followed by 17.Ng7+ and 19.Nd6, converting the initiative into material and a kingside attack.
• Mastery of long-diagonal pieces. Whether playing the English or the Hyper-Accelerated Dragon you consistently place bishops on the long diagonals and understand typical pawn breaks (…d5, …c5, f4/f5).
• Conversion skill when ahead. The technical win against magaiden (…Rd8-d5, …gxf5+) shows patience and good technique in an exchange-up ending.

Areas that need attention

• Central tension in the Grünfeld Defense. Losses to sultantan and nodirbek_abdusadorov began with premature exchanges (e.g. 10…Bxc3+?!) that surrendered the dark-square bishop and left you with weak queenside pawns. Study modern main lines with …Na5, …Nd4 or …e6, keeping pieces on the board.
• Queenside pawn structure in the English. Against Loïc Dasprés your pawns froze on a3-b4-c4, became targets and eventually fell. Before playing a3/b4 ask: “Can my dark-square bishop emerge? Do I have a clear follow-up if Black hits me with …a5 or …c6?” Consider prophylactic moves like h3, Bd2 or Qd2 to keep options flexible.
• Clock management. You were lost on time or resigned in equal positions three times (e.g. vs Dragan Mikicic). Your average remaining time at move 25 is 1 min 45 sec in wins but only 0 : 30 in losses. Build a habit of making a paragraph plan every five moves and move faster in familiar positions. Playing only with increments for the next month will reinforce this.
• Endgame tactics. In the marathon versus jonytitan77 you missed back-rank tricks (25…Rxe2! and later …Rc2!). Daily doses of 15–20 endgame tactics (Chess.com 2600–2800, or CT-Art levels 40–60) will raise your alertness.

Opening homework (two-week micro-cycle)

1. Add 1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 c6!? to your English repertoire – it avoids symmetrical lines yet keeps your Fianchetto flavour.
2. Repair the Hyper-Accelerated line after 8.Rb1: instead of 8…c5 play 8…d6 9.Nf3 Bg4 10.Bg2 Rc8. Annotate two model games (Caruana, Mamedyarov).
3. Replay five elite games in the Rubinstein English (Carlsen-Anand 2013, Kramnik-Giri 2018, etc.) and note how they time pawn breaks b4, d4, or f4.

Middlegame exercise

Set up the diagram after 14.Nxg5 Qxd4 from your recent win and calculate:

Find three plausible Black replies on move 15 and demonstrate how you keep the initiative. This will sharpen your forcing-move calculation.

Practical training routine

• Begin each playing session with one 10|2 warm-up game; treat it as opening rehearsal.
• After every three games take a five-minute break – your
  shows a dip in games 4–5.
• Review one loss per day without an engine first; mark the move where you felt uncomfortable and list rejected candidate moves.

Success metric

Aim for +50 rating points in Rapid and a 60 % score versus 2200–2250 opposition within six weeks. Track progress on the dashboard:

Good luck, Vladimir — keep the pieces active and the clock under control!