Zoran Petronijevic IM

Hi Zoran, overview of your current form

• Current peak blitz rating: 2799 (2024-10-06)
• 5-game streak against 2700-level opposition this week – impressive!
• See your activity snapshots:

What you are already doing very well

• Sharp opening preparation. As White you steer positions into early imbalances (e.g. French-Tarrasch and Alapin). In your latest win you punished …c5 in the French Tarrasch with the thematic 14.Nxe6! which netted two pawns and destroyed Black’s coordination:
  
  
  
• Piece activity & initiative. In several Petroff games you obtained central pawns plus the open e-file and converted quickly.
• Resilience in difficult middlegames. Games vs. MuradNuri and NedJulpie show that you keep finding tactical chances even when material is equal.

Key improvement themes

1. Time management (Zeitnot). Your only loss on 05-Jun vs Rasan04 reached an equal rook ending but you flagged with 55 seconds still on your opponent’s clock.
   
   
   
   Advice: try the “40-20-20” rule in 3-minute games – 40 s opening, 20 s middlegame strategic decisions, 20 s reserve for the ending.
2. Transition technique to simplified endings. In the Semi-Tarrasch loss to jncool68 you nursed an extra pawn for 40 moves but allowed every pair of rooks to come off with no clear plan, finally losing to a passed a-pawn.
   Practical drills: play out “rook + four vs rook + four” endgames against an engine starting at depth 10 until you convert consistently.
3. Pawn-structure awareness. A few games (e.g. vs Tmact) featured premature pawn breaks (c4 & f4) that opened dark-squared weaknesses. Revisit model games in the Caro-Kann Panov and note when to hold the tension rather than clarify.

Action plan for the next two weeks

• 5-minute sparring vs 20 s increment to rehearse good clock usage.
• Annotate at least two lost time-pressure games and write one sentence per move explaining what you felt and what you should have done.
• Endgame micro-routine (15 min/day):
  1. 5 puzzles on rook-pawn endings
  2. Re-play Capablanca – Tartakower, New York 1924 and focus on his pawn probes (Prophylaxis against counterplay).
• Add one solid backup defence against 1.e4 (consider the Classical Sicilian or a quieter French 3…Nf6) so opponents cannot prepare only for your Petroff.

Motivation corner

Your tactical vision is already master level; ironing out the two technical blind spots above can easily push you past 2800 blitz. Keep the fighting spirit of your 37.Qh1# miniature – and manage that clock!

Good luck and keep me posted after the next 50 games!