Dolzhykova Kateryna WGM

Hi Kateryna!

Great job keeping an active tournament schedule and steadily pushing your rating ceiling up to 2201 (2020-12-01). The data shows that you put in the hours – your activity curve (

) proves it – and the effort is paying off. Below is some focused feedback based on your two most recent decisive games against E K.

1. What you’re already doing very well

• Dynamic play with Black. In your latest victory you converted a sharp Nimzo-Indian into a direct mating attack. • 11…b6! kept the c5–knight out and prepared …c5 ideas.
  • 18…Bxf3 & 19…Qg5+!! seized the initiative and never let go.
• Practical time management. Even in tactical complications you maintained a 1–2 minute clock edge, forcing your opponent to calculate under pressure.
• End-game conversion skills. After the queens came off (move 25) you handled the R+P ending efficiently, coordinating rooks and knights to restrict counterplay.

2. Biggest improvement opportunities

• Early-gambit evaluation. In your recent loss (Giuoco Piano – Dubov Gambit) you accepted a dangerous pawn on move 8 (8…dxc4) without completing development. Result: your king was stuck on the queenside and you were mated on move 35.
  ➜ Rule of thumb: if accepting a pawn leaves both bishops un-developed or king in the centre, decline or delay.
• Piece coordination vs. loose pawns. Several of your losses feature a knight or rook stranded on the rim while the opponent invades the centre (see moves 33-41 of the loss). Train “least active piece first” thinking in every position.
• End-game stubbornness. A couple of games end by resignation while material is only −1. Before clicking “Resign” ask: “Can I reach a fortress or perpetual?” Saving even 10 % of lost positions will lift your rating significantly.

3. Key moments to replay

Click to view annotated snippets

A) Your win (Black) – controlling the dark squares

Coaching tip: Notice how every move added a threat and reduced your opponent’s options. Strive for the same “two-purpose” moves when ahead.

B) Your loss (Black) – when greed backfires

Coaching tip: By move 12 White has four active pieces vs. your undeveloped queenside. Next time consider 8…Bb6 and rapid castling instead.

4. Short-term study plan (2 weeks)

1. Opening hygiene (30 min/day). Drill one safe antidote vs. the Dubov Gambit and vs. 1.Nf3 g3 setups. Use a database or Chess.com’s explorer.
2. Tactics (15 min/day). Mix “simulated blunders” (set timer to 30 sec) with deeper calculation drills (5 min/position) to balance speed and depth.
3. Rollback review (after each session). Win or lose, spend 5 min marking “first move I’d change” – the quickest path to pattern recognition.

5. Long-term themes (next quarter)

• Upgrade your understanding of structure-transforms – especially pawn sacrifices for activity. Isolated Queen’s Pawn and hanging pawns positions come up often in your games.
• Sharpen rook-endgame technique: study Vancura and Lucena positions; they appear frequently after your queen trades.

6. Motivation corner

Remember: progress is rarely linear. Plateaus usually precede rating jumps, so treat every frustrating loss as data, not identity. Keep the board busy and the learning curve steep – I’m confident you’ll break the next rating milestone soon!

Good luck, and feel free to send your next set of games for further analysis.