Coach Chesswick
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
- 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. - 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. - 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!