Clément Candelot: The French Bullet Storm
Clément Candelot, known online as clemcand64, is a French online chess phenomenon whose rating graph looks less like a steady climb and more like a rocket launch. He started in 2016 with modest blitz numbers in the high 1500s, then spent the next decade reshaping his game around pure speed. His preferred time control is bullet, where he has reached a stunning peak of 2976 (2026-09-21).
From Club Player to Bullet Believer
Candelot's early online career was a normal grind: solid blitz games, occasional peaks, and plenty of room to grow. Then came the bullet explosion. By 2022 he was pushing into 2500 territory, and by 2025 he was regularly trading blows with players above 2800 in both bullet and blitz. His peak blitz rating of 2953 (2025-12-04) shows he is not just a one-trick pony, and his rapid game has quietly climbed to 2443 (2026-02-17) too.
This is a player who generates more games per evening than most players manage in a month. The chart below tells the story of his bullet ascent from promising amateur to near 3000 destroyer.
Opening Repertoire: All Roads Lead to e4
If you queue up against Candelot, expect 1.e4. He plays it almost religiously. His favorite battlegrounds include the Sicilian Defense in all its razor sharp forms, the solid Caro-Kann Defense Exchange Variation, and the classical Ruy Lopez. As White, he scores especially well with the Sicilian Defense: Moscow Variation and the Caro-Kann Exchange, while as Black he enjoys wading into sharp fights against the Ruy Lopez.
The volume of his opening data is staggering. Thousands of games have been logged in his most common lines, and his win rates remain remarkably consistent despite the sheer number of bullets fired.
Rivalries and Volume
Candelot has played an enormous number of games, and a handful of rivals have shared the grind with him. His most frequent dance partner is javier, against whom he has played 187 games. That rivalry is fierce: Candelot holds 100 wins, but javicio has taken 77 of his own. Another regular sparring partner is Shivam Pant, with 140 meetings and an almost dead even record.
Against some opponents, even a bullet stormer finds trouble. LeBonBon Pookie leads their series heavily, winning 68 of 86 games, proving that everybody has a bogeyman. Still, Candelot keeps returning to the board, which might be the most French thing about him.
Streaks, Comebacks, and Chaos
The stats paint Candelot as a player who lives for drama. His longest winning streak is 20 games, matched by a losing streak of 20 games, so his graph is just as likely to spike as it is to plunge. Against lower rated opposition he wins about 69 percent of the time, but against higher rated opponents that number drops to 27 percent. He does not shy away from the challenge.
His comeback rate sits at 87.32 percent, suggesting he never read the memo about resigning. He resigns early in about half of his losses, but when he stays in, chaos ensues. The data also shows his best time of day to play is exactly midnight, which may explain his unique relationship with sleep.
Fun Facts and Oddities
- Longest winning streak: 20 games. Longest losing streak: 20 games. Perfect symmetry.
- His most common checking piece is the rook, which he uses to deliver over 26,000 checks across analyzed games.
- In rapid play, he has a near perfect record with the Blackburne Shilling Gambit, winning 11 of 12 games.
- He has played more than 25,000 analyzed games, and his average winning game lasts around 85 moves. That is a lot of bullet chess.