Roula Mahmoud WFM

Hi Roula!

Great job keeping your blitz rating around 1920 (2025-05-08) and showing fighting spirit in every session. Below is some tailored feedback based on your most recent games.

👍 What’s working well

• Initiative hunter: You regularly seize space with pawn storms (g-pawn in the Sveshnikov-type O’Kelly and h-pawn pushes in the Caro-Kann win). Your opponents often end up on the back foot.
• Dynamic openings: As Black you feel at home in both the King’s Indian (E62) and sharper Sicilian structures. Your piece placement is thematic and you understand typical breaks like …d6–d5 or …e6–e5.
• Tactical alertness: The miniature against mattnev shows accurate calculation: …Ncxe4, …Bxa1 and the later …Qxg3+ followed by a clean mate. Your eye for tactics wins many games quickly.

⚠️ Patterns behind the recent losses

• Early queen adventures backfire. In the Alapin (…Qa5? Bxa5) and Giuoco Piano (Qxf2? Re1#) your queen became a tactical liability. Guard against tempo-gaining attacks on your queen in the first 15 moves.
• Piece coordination in quiet positions. The long end-game loss vs Mikhail-N arose from passive pieces and pawns on the wrong colors. When the game slows down, switch mindset from tactics to prophylaxis.
• King safety in the King’s Indian. Two resignations stemmed from leaving f7/f6 and the dark squares unguarded. Before launching …e5 breaks, double-check pins along the e-file and the long diagonal.

📌 Three concrete fixes for the next week

1. “Safety first” opening filter. Until 12 moves are completed, ask: “Is my queen attacked after their next obvious move?” and “Can my king be checked in two?” 10 seconds of prophylactic think time will eliminate most miniatures.
2. End-game reps. Spend 15 minutes per day on rook-and-pawn studies. The lost K+Q vs K+N end-game showed hesitation in pushing passed pawns and cutting the king. Build confidence here so long games become rating gains.
3. Anti-Alapin file prep. Add the simple line 1 e4 c5 2 c3 d5 3 exd5 Qxd5! to your repertoire. No early …a6; instead you equalise immediately and avoid the queen trap seen in the loss to tomas12312312.

Suggested study themes

• Typical motifs: Greek gift, back-rank mate, zwischenzug in queen races.
• King’s Indian model games: Focus on piece swaps that neutralise White’s space before counter-attacking.
• Sicilian sidelines: Revisit B22/B40 systems to avoid time-burn in the opening.

Progress tracker

Use these charts to spot when you’re freshest:

Keep it up!

Your attacking flair is your trademark. By tightening early queen safety and polishing end-game technique, you’ll convert even more of those sharp positions into wins. Happy hunting, and see you on the leaderboards!