Jose Guilherme Barria Santos FM

Hi Jose Guilherme Barria Santos!

Great job maintaining a performance near 2800 blitz – elite territory for three-minute chess. Below is specific feedback based on your latest session.

What’s already excellent

• Opening command. You reach move 10 with 85-90 % of your clock, whether in the King’s Indian, Dutch, or Sicilian French set-ups. That shows solid preparation and confidence in your repertoire.
• Dynamic pawn play. Wing breaks such as …b5 (Taimanov game) or h4-h5 / g4 (KID & Bogo-Indian wins) regularly seize the initiative and unbalance opponents.
• Tactical alertness. Miniatures like the victory over ElHelvetico illustrate your ability to convert complications into material gain quickly (
  ).
• Clock management. Even deep into end-games you preserve a safety buffer that forces opponents to flag, e.g. the 79-move win vs wqws.

Recurring issues to address

1. King safety after pawn storms.
   Two losses to Ebanine began with early g/h-pawn pushes (as White) or …f-pawn thrusts (as Black) that weakened your own dark squares. Before committing a wing pawn, ask: “Can my opponent open a file toward my king in three moves?” If yes, postpone the push or prepare it better.
2. Central tension avoidance.
   In the Smith-Morra defeat you spent tempi on …a6 and …Bb4 and ceded d4/d5. Build a habit: every four moves reassess whether you can push, exchange, or blockade a central pawn. This keeps your pieces from drifting.
3. Conversion technique.
   Winning positions sometimes take 30+ extra moves to finish, or slip away (Cacriefils 1-0). Drill elementary rook endings and practise converting a pawn up vs engine on low depth.
4. Forced-sequence calculation.
   The mating shot 23…Qd2+!! you suffered in the QGD game shows a blind spot to queen invasions. When an enemy queen crosses your 4th rank, hit the mental brake and calculate at least three forced plies.

Two-week action plan

Your stats at a glance

• Hourly win rate:
• Day-of-week trends:
• Peak blitz rating:

Study suggestions

• Model King’s Indian games by Radjabov (positional themes after …c6 & …b5).
• Classical remedies to the Morra Gambit – observe Caruana’s move order choices.
• End-game fundamentals: Lucena position & rook vs passed pawn.
• Pawn-storm timing in opposite-side castling; review Tal’s Sicilian attacks.

Final motivation

You have already beaten several 2800+ opponents and flirted with a 2900 performance. Add a dash of prophylaxis and end-game polish, and a stable 2900 blitz rating is well within reach. Keep the fire burning – just shield your own king while you light the opponent’s!

Good luck, and see you at the board! – Coach