Coach Chesswick
Hi Arthur!
You play lively, enterprising chess and are progressing steadily (current peak: ). Below is some feedback based on your most recent games.
What you’re already doing well
- Active piece play. You rarely leave your pieces undeveloped: quick moves such as 9…Nf4 (vs. player12345996969096) and 11…Bb4+ (vs. AlfredNoel) show you like creating immediate pressure.
- Spotting tactical shots. Forks (17.Nc7+), double–attacks (14…Qe1#), and in–between moves appear regularly in your wins, indicating good pattern recognition of basic tactic.
- Good practical speed. Even in 10-minute games you usually reach move 15 with ~70–80 % of your clock, letting you handle complications without time panic.
Biggest improvement areas
- Early queen adventures. In the loss vs. dil341 you played 2.Qh5 and 4.Qf3; the queen became a tempo target and you fell behind in development. Try delaying queen moves until minor pieces are out.
- King safety in open positions. The Modern-Defense game vs. VadDimG reached a wide-open board with both rooks and queens still on; your king walked from g1 to h4 and was mated. Make castling and connecting rooks a priority before pawn storms.
- Endgame conversion. Several losses came from equal or better middlegames that drifted (e.g. vs. dat_qwer where a pawn endgame collapsed). Study basic rook-and-pawn endgames and the concept of the “active rook”.
- Over-pushing flank pawns. Moves like 40.g4 and 41.h5 (again vs. VadDimG) weakened squares around your king. When ahead in space, improve piece positions first, then push pawns.
Opening corner
You play 1.e4 both colours and answer 3.d4 with …d5 (Scotch-Game structures). Consider adding a fallback line such as the Italian Two Knights as White and the Classical Scotch …Bc5 as Black, so you’re not always in sharp …Qxd5 lines.
Critical moment to revisit
In the following fragment you were two pawns up but allowed Black’s passed c-pawn to queen and lost:
Key lessons:
- Passed pawns must be blockaded from the front (→ create an outpost).
- Keep rooks behind passed pawns—both yours and the opponent’s.
- When up material, centralise the king only after queens are exchanged.
Performance snapshots
Use the charts to spot when you score best and plan your training times:
Next steps for you
- Do 10–15 rated puzzles daily, focusing on mate-in-2/3 and simple piece forks.
- Analyse one of your losses without an engine first—write down why you think you lost, then compare with the computer.
- Play a few longer (15 + 10) games each week to practice slower, more accurate calculation.
- Study the basic rook endgames: “Lucena”, “Philidor” and the idea of cutting off the king.
- Pick one solid opening line as White and one as Black; watch a short video or read a page about the plans so you feel confident even when the opponent deviates.
Keep the fighting spirit, Arthur, and let me know how the next batch of games goes. Good luck!