Rasul Ibrahimov GM

Constructive feedback for Rasul Ibrahimov

Quick snapshot

• Current peak blitz rating: 2653 (2023-12-14)
• Typical time control played: 3 | 0 and 10 | 2
• Main white repertoire: 1.Nf3 → d4 → c4 (Zukertort / Catalan–flavoured set-ups)
• Main black repertoire: Sicilian (Scheveningen) vs 1.e4, Queen’s-Indian / Slav structures vs 1.d4

Your strengths

• Opening understanding: You reach playable middlegames quickly and confidently in both the Zukertort and Scheveningen. Most recent wins show a clear idea of piece placement and pawn breaks (e.g. 13.h4! g4! in your Sicilian game).
• Tactical alertness: Good at spotting resourceful counter-blows such as 16.Nxd5! (win vs lerisingsoleil), or 18.Nxd5 followed by 21.Bc3 in the Scheveningen miniature.
• Conversion with the initiative: When the opponent’s king is exposed you keep the pressure, often inducing flag or resignation even with little time left.

Key improvement areas

• Time management: Five of the supplied games were decided by the clock. Try the 30-second “rule of three”: spend ≤10 s to spot opponent threats, ≤10 s to choose candidate moves, ≤10 s to verify tactics.
• Critical moment evaluation: In the loss vs Iskusnyh you allowed …Nc4 and …Bxc4 giving Black a protected passed c-pawn. When the opponent’s minority break is coming, consider prophylaxis (Rb1, a4, or Qa4).
• Opposite-wing pawn storms: In several losses you pushed pawns (e.g. 14.Bb4–Ba3 repeats vs NewBornNow) but never opened lines. Study typical plans from the English Attack or KID to learn when to switch from space-gain to opening files.
• End-game technique: The loss to Nuvas converged to a bishop-vs-pawn race. Your king remained far away while Black’s rushed to f5–f4. Practise king-and-pawn endings with increment to build confidence.

Opening-specific notes

Zukertort set-up (White)
• After 4.Qb3 dxc4 5.Qxc4 Bf5 you often fall behind in development. Consider 5.e3 (keeping the pawn structure flexible) or 5.Nc3 to discourage …Bf5.
• Watch for the thematic break …e5 from Black. In the PGN below you could equalise with 18.dxe5! but missed it:

Scheveningen (Black)
• You handle the Keres attack well, but against 9.g4 you spent 30 s on 13…Nde5?! and entered a worse pawn structure. Memorise the main line 13…b4! 14.Na4 Nce5.
• In slower games test the Najdorf move-order to avoid early g-pawn storms entirely.

Tactical theme to add to your toolbox

Pattern: Exchange-down rook lift – give up a rook to invade on the 7th. Example from your win vs lerisingsoleil:


Drill similar motifs on Chess.com Puzzle Rush until you solve them in <10 s.

Performance vs time of day

Blitz win-rate drops sharply after long streaks.

Action plan for the next two weeks

1. Play 10 games with 5 | 5 increment focusing solely on time usage discipline.
2. Solve 50 end-game studies (king-and-pawn & minor-piece) – 10 per day.
3. Analyse each loss with an engine after giving yourself 10 min of self-analysis first.
4. Add one new weapon: vs 1…d5 study the c4-less Colle-Zukertort so you can avoid …dxc4 sidelines.
5. Re-watch 3 GM games in the Scheveningen (Kasparov–Topalov 1999, Anand–Ivanchuk 1992, and Giri–Caruana 2022) to internalise typical middlegame plans.

Keep enjoying the game, Rasul, and let me know how the next training block feels!