Bragi Thorfinnsson is an Icelandic Grandmaster known for his serious skills and a love for blitz chess. While he could easily pass as a Viking chess warrior based on his name, his chess style is more like a calculated storm—powerful and precise.
Playing Style & Strengths
Preferring blitz time controls, Bragi is famous for:
Strong tactical awareness with an impressive 91.48% comeback rate after setbacks.
A balanced approach, with an endgame frequency of 83.53%, proving his stamina in longer battles.
Flexibility in openings, enjoying a variety of defenses such as the Caro-Kann and Sicilian Closed.
Maintains a steady nerve, boasting a low tilt factor of 10—proving he keeps his cool even when the clock is ticking down!
Career Highlights
Achieved peak blitz rating of 2739 — a strength that would make even the Norse gods take notice.
Earned the prestigious Grandmaster title awarded by FIDE.
Preferred opening repertoire includes diverse choices such as the Queen's Pawn Game and Reti openings, with win rates around 50% against strong opposition.
Noted for a great resilience with a balanced win-to-loss ratio in blitz and bullet formats.
Noteworthy Records
Longest winning streak: 15 games — quite the chess marathon!
Strongest performance during early morning hours, particularly around 6 AM — whether a morning bird or a night owl, Bragi knows when to strike.
Has faced and won against a wide range of opponents, maintaining friendly rivalries with many top players.
Coach Chesswick
Overall Performance and Rating Trends
You have a strength adjusted win rate of about 50.3%, which indicates a balanced performance against players of similar skill. Over the last month, your rating has seen a modest increase of 3 points, reflecting positive momentum. However, looking at the longer term, such as the last 3 months, there is a rating dip of 64 points, and the trend slope also suggests a recent decline in performance over that period. Over 6 months, though, you've gained 19 points with a slight negative trend slope, indicating some fluctuations but overall stability.
It's great that your short-term trend is positive—focusing on consolidating this can help improve your long-term consistency.
Strengths in Recent Games
Opening Preparation: Your choice of openings, such as against the Modern Defense (ECO B06), the Sicilian Defense variations (including the Hyperaccelerated Dragon), and the Caro-Kann Defense, shows you have a solid opening repertoire. This helps you get comfortable positions early in the game.
Tactical Awareness: From your wins, you demonstrated good tactical vision, such as being able to convert attacks and creating mating nets effectively.
Endgame Technique: Several of your victories show strong endgame play, efficiently converting slight advantages into wins.
Areas for Improvement
Maintaining Consistency: The dip in rating over the last 3 months suggests some instability. Try to review your losses closely to identify recurring mistakes or patterns that lead to defeat.
Opening Defense: A few losses indicate some difficulties against certain counter-attacks or middle game transitions after your chosen openings. Deepening your understanding of common sidelines or opponent responses could help.
Time Management: Some losses ended on time or occurred in complex positions under time pressure. Continuing to practice managing your clock, especially in blitz, may improve your results significantly.
Recommended Next Steps
Analyze losses in detail, focusing on moments where the position shifted from balanced to disadvantageous.
Study key lines in your most frequent openings and also prepare against common opponent defenses.
Incorporate more endgame studies to maintain your strength in converting advantages.
Practice time management drills to improve your play in critical moments.
Keep playing regularly and track your progress with each session to maintain the positive recent trend.
Links to Review Your Games
You may find it helpful to revisit some of your recent matches:
