Mzungu's Expert Plan

Starting Ratings

USCF: 1904

Chesscom Blitz: 2065

Rapid: 1878

Fide: N/a

Welcome!

Day 1:

1 won lost 1. pawn structure changes was biggest mistake.

Day 2

lost all 4 blitz games... need to warm up i think before jumping right in. Game 1 I didnt know opening and was put in a big hole. 2-3-4 were all lost by tactical mistakes.

Day 3

played two very interesting rapid games and am beginning to slow down on my calculation. I lost an even endgame while I was in time pressure. N v N. 

Day 4:

Played a great rapid game and was crushing in the endgame B v N plus 2 pawns. Ended up missing some easy moves when my clock was low again and it was a draw. Thats two games where I've had better positions/winning and time pressure has caused a loss/draw. Need to calculate quicker. (checks, captures, threats...) spending too much time on threats in the endgame. Need to focus on not being reactive when time gets low.

Day 5

Played another very good rapid game in the opening and early middle game. I gained the advantage again yet couldn’t convert the advantage into a win. I’ve become aware that this is a huge problem for me. I get advantages and lose them in the late middle game/early endgame. 

When I have the advantage, I like to really focus on what my opponent is trying to do to fight back in the game. This is probably the statistics side of my brain, but I kind of think of the position in terms of odds the opponent comes back. Trying to eliminate all of their resources.

Day 6 and 7 were fine. I found all of the correct 1st/2nd moves in the Yusupov book. I am going to try and calculate/analyze deeper in the next chapter.

Well done on the Yusupov book. I still struggle with it.