Miguel Illescas Cordoba GM

About Miguel Illescas Cordoba

Miguel Illescas Cordoba is an accomplished Grandmaster with a flair for fast-paced games, particularly favoring the Blitz time control. Known for his strong tactical awareness and resilience, Miguel has exhibited a remarkable comeback rate of 86.53%, proving that losing a piece is just a stepping stone to victory in his games.

Playing Style

Miguel's chess style emphasizes endurance and strategic depth:

• Prefers long games with an average of about 83 moves per game.
• Highly engaged in endgames, with an endgame frequency of 82.59%.
• Relatively patient with captures, usually making the first capture around move 8.
• Balances white and black pieces well, with a slightly better win rate playing White (55%).
• Early resignation is rare but occurs occasionally (0.48%), showing he fights hard in most games.

Time Controls & Performance

While Miguel has tried various formats, Blitz chess is his playground:

• Peak Blitz rating: 2799 (November 2021), a simply stunning achievement for rapid decision-making.
• Peak Bullet rating: 2587 (August 2019), showing speed but perhaps preferring the extra seconds Blitz allows.
• Rapid rating peaked at 2600 but with only a few games recorded here, Blitz remains his favorite.
• Known for a strong winning streak of 12 games, demonstrating both skill and momentum mastery.

Opening Repertoire Highlights

Miguel likes to keep his opponents on their toes, often choosing flexible and dynamic openings:

• Queen's Pawn Games are common, with a particular strength in the Symmetrical Variation and Anglo-Slav.
• Strong success with the Nimzo-Indian Defense, especially the Saemisch variation and Nimzo-Larsen Attack.
• Utilizes aggressive lines like the Smith-Morra Gambit in Bullet games, showing a taste for tactical fireworks.
• Petrov's Defense and King's Indian Defense variations also prominently feature in his games, balancing solid defense with sharp counterplay.

Fun Facts & Personality

When not calculating complicated lines or plotting chess victories, Miguel’s impressive comeback rate of over 85% might suggest he’s the “chess phoenix”—rising stronger from every setback. And with an almost even breakup of wins against top opponents and a knack for playing well at 10 AM (his best time of day), it’s clear he’s a grandmaster who knows how to mix discipline with a healthy dose of chess magic.