Hazem Sultan

Quick recap

Nice session — you converted two clean wins (including a mating finish as Black) and lost one long, tactical game where the opponent crushed you with a mating net. Highlights to keep: active piece play, spotting tactical shots, and finishing attacks. Recurring work: king safety, dealing with passed pawns and promotion, and a sharper endgame checklist.

Games I looked at

• Win (White) vs. maverickjreid — smart queen incursion on the enemy king side, grabbed pawns and forced simplifications into a winning ending. See the game replay:
• Win (Black) vs. debruyne0417 — very direct play: active rooks and a decisive mating blow on the kingside (bishop + rook). Good conversion of initiative into mate.
• Loss (Black) vs. mike-obakeng-1026 — long fight that ended in a mating finish by White after a promotion and sustained pressure on your back rank. This one is the main source of lessons.

What you’re doing well

• Active piece play and initiative: in winning games you consistently bring pieces into the attack (queen sorties, rook lifts and open-file play).
• Tactical vision: you spot winning material and mating patterns quickly — that’s why you scored clean mates and forced simplifications.
• Opening familiarity: you play many games in the same lines (e.g., Scandinavian Defense and Philidor Defense), which gives you practical familiarity and practical chances.

Main areas to improve

• King safety / back-rank awareness — the loss shows a tendency to let the opponent build a mating net after a promotion. Always ask: "Can my king be mated or trapped after pawn advances/promotions?" Use a simple back-rank checklist before every non-forcing move.
• Passed pawn handling and counterplay — when the opponent’s pawn marches, you need clearer plans to stop it (blockade, exchange, or active counterplay). In the loss you allowed a passed pawn to fuel the attack instead of creating decisive counterplay.
• Endgame technique — several positions simplified into rook-and-pawn endgames or mating nets; practice typical rook endings and defending with limited material.
• Opening tuning — your win/loss split in frequent lines like Philidor is close to even. Drill the critical variations and typical pawn breaks so you turn familiar positions into lasting edges.

Concrete drills (daily/weekly)

• Tactics: 15–25 tactical puzzles daily (forks, pins, mate threats, back-rank motifs). Focus 2–3 days on mating patterns and back-rank themes.
• Endgames: 15–20 minutes, 3× per week — rook+pawn vs rook basics, defending while down a pawn, and mate patterns with minor pieces + rook.
• Opening work: pick 2–3 critical lines in Scandinavian Defense and Philidor Defense to study — typical plans, not just move orders. Add one short annotated model game per line.
• Game review routine: after every loss, write down the one critical error (king safety / pawn structure / time management). Fix that one next session.

Practical tips to use immediately

• Before any move, ask: "Does this create a new mating threat for me or for my opponent?" If yes, calculate 2–3 forcing continuations.
• When your opponent has a passed pawn, look for three generic answers: exchange it, blockade it with a piece, or create a faster passer on the other wing.
• Keep at least one escape square (a luft) or resource if your king is on the back rank and rooks are off the board.
• If you win material with the queen early (like in your Qxg7 game), plan where to park the queen safely — don’t let it be chased into passive squares.

Opening-specific notes

Your popularity/volume in these lines is an advantage; small targeted study will pay big dividends.

• Scandinavian Defense (Scandinavian Defense): you have many games here — reinforce the common endgame transitions and the right middlegame pawn breaks so you don’t drift into passive setups.
• Philidor (Philidor Defense): your winrate is lower here — review the standard plans for both sides (pawn breaks and piece exchanges). Practice a couple of typical defensive setups so the middlegame is more comfortable.

Course of action — 30/60/90 day plan

• 30 days: Daily tactics and one endgame theme (rook endgames). Review 10 of your recent losses and extract lessons.
• 60 days: Add opening notebooks for Scandinavian and Philidor; play a weekly slow game (15+10) to practise conversion and avoid blunders.
• 90 days: Tournament-style practice (5–10 slow games) and track progress; aim to turn recurring mistakes (back-rank, passed pawn handling) into non-issues.

Motivation & next steps

Your long-term rating trend is positive even though recent short-term dips happened. Use that as proof the work pays off — small focused fixes (king safety + endgames) will recover the recent drop quickly. If you want, tell me which of these areas you want a 2-week micro-plan for and I’ll make one.