Overview
Alex Nagorski (aln276) is a Candidate Master who lives for tactical scrambles and fast clocks. A prolific online competitor, Alex prefers Bullet play and treats 1 minute on the clock as a personal challenge. Their play blends stubborn endgame technique with surprising tactical bursts, which has helped them rack up thousands of games across Bullet, Blitz, and Daily time controls.
- Title: Candidate Master (FIDE)
- Username: aln276
- Preferred time control: Bullet - a true speed-chess specialist
- Peak Blitz and Bullet moments: 2130 (2022-12-11) and 1932 (2021-03-14)
Playing style
Alex mixes long, strategic fights with sudden tactical fireworks. Their games tend to go deep - endgames are common, and they do not give up early. They are the kind of player who will grind a pawn-up endgame while muttering about "one tempo" under their breath.
- Endgame frequency: 72.8% - Alex sees many games through to the finish
- Average moves per win: about 64.5 moves - patient and persistent
- Average first capture: around move 6 - comfortable with early skirmishes
- Comeback rate: 80.6% - capable of turning bad positions around
- Tilt factor: 13 - plays best when calm, and worse when the coffee runs out
Career highlights
Alex has tallied many memorable runs online and reached notable peaks across time controls. Highlights include long hot streaks, frequent endgame wins, and a steady climb to solid peak performances.
- Longest winning streak: 16 games in a row
- Longest losing streak: 13 games - even masters have rough days
- Peak Daily rating milestone: 2004 (2024-11-17)
- Peak Blitz rating milestone: 2130 (2022-12-11)
Openings and favorite lines
Alex has a wide and sometimes surprising opening repertoire. In Bullet they favor direct, practical systems that create immediate play. In longer games they will often steer into rich, maneuvering structures.
- Scandinavian Defense - a common practical choice in Bullet (Scandinavian Defense)
- Queen's Gambit Accepted lines like QGA: 3.e3 c5 (QGA: 3.e3 c5)
- London System - Poisoned Pawn Variation (London System: Poisoned Pawn Variation)
- Amar Gambit and other sharp sidelines used to unbalance quick games
Sample Bullet favorites (selected):
- Scandinavian Defense - many games, solid experience in tactical melee
- QGA: 3.e3 c5 - a reliable weapon with good win counts in Blitz and Bullet
- Barnes Defense - an unexpected choice that has netted good results
Notable opponents and rivalries
Alex has faced a number of frequent opponents online. Some of these matchups read like ongoing serials rather than isolated games.
- timothyha - the most-played opponent; Alex's record vs them is 25 wins, 4 losses, 9 draws (timothyha)
- kirill_polishuk - a tougher matchup with many games (kirill_polishuk)
- lifelikechess and sonic_slug - long-running rivalries that produced dozens of decisive games
Quick facts
- Massive volume in fast time controls - thousands of Bullet and Blitz games
- White win rate vs Black win rate: solid results with the white pieces
- Avg decisive length and preference for full games - Alex prefers finishing the job
- Best hour to play: late afternoon to early evening - 17:00 is their peak
Example game and puzzle
Here is a tiny illustration of Alex's typical fast-style opening. Try to find Black's best reply on move 4.
Openings mentioned above: Scandinavian Defense, QGA: 3.e3 c5, London System: Poisoned Pawn Variation.
For fans and future opponents
If you want to challenge Alex, be ready for long endgames, quick tactical shots in Bullet, and a player who will punish sloppy play. Bring coffee and a stable connection.
- Preferred challenge: Bullet - move fast, think faster
- Preparation tip: study Scandinavian and QGA structures
- Fun fact: Alex's comeback rate means never counting them out