Epictylev: The Relentless Chess Aficionado
Stepping onto the 64-square battlefield with a rating that has seen a rollercoaster ride from humble beginnings to impressive peaks, epictylev is a player who commands respect and a dash of humor. Known for a gameplay style sprinkled with stubborn resilience – after all, their comeback rate stands strong at an admirable 72.18% – epictylev prefers to dance with the classics, favoring the Queen's Pawn Opening and the Caro-Kann Defense with a win rate north of 80% in daily games, proving that sometimes sticking to the basics is the recipe for success.
A Journey Through Ratings
From the early days, starting around 824 in daily games back in 2018, epictylev rose steadily, peaking at a sturdy 1119 in 2023. Rapid games saw an even more dramatic ascent, soaring up to a nimble 1358 by mid-2023, a testament to their quicker thinking under pressure. Blitz and Bullet ratings tell stories of grit and adaptability, with peaks of 1141 and 1339 respectively, showing epictylev's ability to strike with speed and precision—even if sometimes a bullet round might feel like dodging a wild storm!
Style, Stats, and Surprises
With an average of approximately 54 moves to triumph and a slightly higher move count before losses, epictylev’s games are often battles of attrition and careful calculation. A notable early resignation rate of 2.39% suggests epictylev knows when to fight on and when to gracefully tip the hat, preserving energy for the next round.
Interestingly, the psychological side shows a manageable tilt factor of 20—chess nerves sometimes bite, but never enough to derail a determined strategist. And if you want to catch epictylev at their sharpest, set your clock to 11 a.m., the time when their impressive 81.25% win rate kicks in, proving mornings are made for checkmates rather than coffee spills.
Opening Mastery and Tactical Flair
No stranger to strategic fundamentals, epictylev’s opening repertoire is a well-curated symphony. The Accelerated London System in daily games boasts a whopping 92% win rate, while the Grob Opening remains undefeated in their experience—a reminder that even unorthodox moves can surprise the opponent when wielded by a confident hand.
In faster time controls, the player shows strong preferences for Modern and Queen’s Pawn openings, balancing between aggression and defense. Bullet and Blitz performances feature thrilling displays of tactical awareness, although with the occasional dramatic loss streak—hey, even the best blunder sometimes in a 1-minute frenzy!
Recent Memorable Victories
The latest triumphs are nothing short of cinematic: from a beautiful checkmate executed after a patient pawn dance in April 2025 to another slick finish using the English Opening just weeks later. Each victory adds a line to the legend of epictylev, who continues to not just play the game, but to live it with flair.
The Opponents' Perspective
Facing foes like jilldev and ohnotgood often spells trouble for the opposition, with win rates of 95% and 68% respectively. Not all battles go epictylev’s way, but a loss is often just a prelude to the next heroic comeback.
Quick overview
Thanks — I looked through your recent bullet games (the two losses vs kalabapatta on 2025.09.20 plus earlier games). The pattern is clear: good opening instincts and willingness to grab material, but repeated time trouble and a few tactical oversights cost you the games.
Replay the decisive game
Here’s the most recent loss so you can replay the critical sequence quickly.
What you are doing well
- You're aggressive and willing to seize material — that fighting spirit is important in bullet and explains good results in sharp systems (your Openings Performance shows strong results in lines like Modern and Amazon Attack).
- You find tactical shots and direct attacking ideas — you reach forcing positions rather than passive ones.
- You keep playing a consistent set of openings (example: London System: Poisoned Pawn Variation appears often) so your instincts in those lines are improving with practice.
Recurring problems to fix
- Time trouble / flag losses: multiple games ended "won on time" for the opponent. Your clock hits extremely low values (under a second in a couple of moves) — that's the single biggest leak.
- Grabbing material without development: in the replayed game the queen grabs pawns and ends up vulnerable while your pieces are undeveloped, allowing tactical counterplay (rook activity and checks).
- Back-rank/coordination issues and loose pieces: giving checks or allowing a rook to penetrate because the king is unsettled (Ke2 in one game shows how the king can get into trouble early).
- Poor conversion under time pressure: even in promising positions you lost on the clock rather than losing over the board — a sign your over-the-board technique under severe time pressure needs practice.
Practical, short-term fixes for bullet
- Prioritize the clock: if you have < 10 seconds, simplify. Trade queens/major pieces when ahead on time to reduce calculation load.
- Use simple, rehearsed opening moves for the first 8–10 moves so you save time. Pick one or two openings you know well (lean into your higher-win lines like Modern or Amazon Attack).
- Avoid material grabs that cost development — only snatch pawns if you’re sure you won’t lose tempo or allow big counterplay (ask: does grabbing the pawn let their rook or knight get active?).
- When ahead on material, trade pieces and move fast — the opponent will blunder more under time pressure than you will.
- Pre-moves: use them selectively for obvious recaptures or forced pawn moves, not in unclear positions.
Training plan (next 2 weeks)
- Daily: 10–15 minutes of tactical puzzles focused on mates and forks (quick pattern recognition helps in bullet).
- 3× week: 15–20 minutes of blitz/rapid (3+0 or 5+0) to practice positions without collapsing on the clock — play positionally, then switch to 1–2 bullet games to apply speed lessons.
- Once a week: review 3 lost games and find the single turning point — note whether it was time, a missed tactic, or a positional error.
- Practice “safe opening book”: pick two short, reliable opening move orders and drill them until your first 8 moves are near-automatic.
Concrete checklist to use during play
- First 10 seconds: play your book moves quickly.
- If opponent gives you a pawn, ask: "Does this cost development or give a tempo to their heavy pieces?" If yes — decline.
- If your clock < 10s: trade pieces or head for a simple plan (activate a rook, push passed pawn).
- Reserve 5–10s to avoid immediate blunders on checks/recaptures near the king.
Next milestones
- Eliminate flag-losses for one session (play until you finish ~10 games without a single time loss).
- Improve opening win-rate: spend one week reinforcing a single opening with short plans — you should see fewer tactical punishments from the opponents.
- Increase your Strength Adjusted Win Rate consistency by converting time advantage into wins — play deliberately when ahead on the clock.
If you want, I can…
- Walk through 2–3 of your most recent losses move-by-move and mark exact turning points.
- Provide a compact 8-move bullet-repertoire (White and Black) optimized for fast play.
- Build a tailored 2-week drill schedule with daily tasks and progress checks.
Tell me which of the above you want and I’ll prepare it.
🆚 Opponent Insights
| Most Played Opponents | ||
|---|---|---|
| tadev67 | 74W / 19L / 2D | View Games |
| jilldev | 64W / 5L / 0D | View Games |
| ohnotgood | 20W / 8L / 2D | View Games |
| alexandra botez | 15W / 4L / 0D | View Games |
| sergey_ermakov | 0W / 13L / 0D | View Games |
Rating
| Year | Bullet | Blitz | Rapid | Daily |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 977 | 1096 | 1316 | 918 |
| 2024 | 977 | 1058 | 1355 | 993 |
| 2023 | 1037 | 1058 | 1355 | 994 |
| 2022 | 1037 | 1001 | 1296 | 1119 |
| 2021 | 1011 | 1014 | 1030 | 1010 |
| 2020 | 959 | 774 | 789 | |
| 2019 | 700 | 947 | ||
| 2018 | 662 | 775 | 800 | 889 |
| 2017 | 630 | 648 |
Stats by Year
| Year | White | Black | Moves |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 30W / 23L / 1D | 29W / 28L / 0D | 59.5 |
| 2024 | 22W / 36L / 0D | 24W / 31L / 1D | 60.8 |
| 2023 | 27W / 32L / 2D | 25W / 37L / 0D | 54.9 |
| 2022 | 43W / 38L / 0D | 42W / 37L / 4D | 61.2 |
| 2021 | 367W / 313L / 26D | 334W / 348L / 24D | 63.3 |
| 2020 | 152W / 165L / 6D | 139W / 173L / 6D | 52.7 |
| 2019 | 18W / 22L / 2D | 20W / 21L / 0D | 50.1 |
| 2018 | 94W / 101L / 2D | 106W / 89L / 7D | 50.0 |
| 2017 | 18W / 21L / 1D | 19W / 18L / 1D | 55.9 |
Openings: Most Played
| Daily Opening | Games | Wins | Losses | Draws | Win Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Attack | 28 | 23 | 5 | 0 | 82.1% |
| Caro-Kann Defense | 23 | 15 | 6 | 2 | 65.2% |
| Australian Defense | 22 | 17 | 5 | 0 | 77.3% |
| Dutch Defense | 17 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 76.5% |
| London System: Poisoned Pawn Variation | 16 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 75.0% |
| Amar Gambit | 16 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 93.8% |
| Hungarian Opening: Wiedenhagen-Beta Gambit | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 77.8% |
| Amazon Attack: Siberian Attack | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 75.0% |
| Barnes Opening: Walkerling | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 80.0% |
| Modern Defense | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 100.0% |
| Rapid Opening | Games | Wins | Losses | Draws | Win Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caro-Kann Defense | 42 | 23 | 19 | 0 | 54.8% |
| London System: Poisoned Pawn Variation | 26 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 50.0% |
| Caro-Kann Defense: Exchange Variation | 15 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 46.7% |
| Amazon Attack | 14 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 64.3% |
| Amazon Attack: Siberian Attack | 10 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 30.0% |
| Australian Defense | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 50.0% |
| English Opening | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 57.1% |
| English Opening: Carls-Bremen System | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 40.0% |
| English Opening: King's English Variation | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 60.0% |
| English Opening: Closed, Taimanov Variation | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 80.0% |
| Bullet Opening | Games | Wins | Losses | Draws | Win Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| London System: Poisoned Pawn Variation | 141 | 57 | 78 | 6 | 40.4% |
| Australian Defense | 136 | 63 | 70 | 3 | 46.3% |
| Amazon Attack | 126 | 71 | 52 | 3 | 56.4% |
| Czech Defense | 72 | 32 | 38 | 2 | 44.4% |
| Modern | 50 | 31 | 18 | 1 | 62.0% |
| Scandinavian Defense | 45 | 16 | 28 | 1 | 35.6% |
| Caro-Kann Defense | 43 | 18 | 24 | 1 | 41.9% |
| Amar Gambit | 43 | 20 | 22 | 1 | 46.5% |
| Amazon Attack: Siberian Attack | 42 | 17 | 25 | 0 | 40.5% |
| Pirc Defense: Classical Variation | 37 | 17 | 20 | 0 | 46.0% |
| Blitz Opening | Games | Wins | Losses | Draws | Win Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Attack | 164 | 89 | 69 | 6 | 54.3% |
| Modern | 121 | 50 | 67 | 4 | 41.3% |
| Amar Gambit | 86 | 46 | 38 | 2 | 53.5% |
| Australian Defense | 74 | 41 | 31 | 2 | 55.4% |
| Scandinavian Defense | 72 | 30 | 38 | 4 | 41.7% |
| Caro-Kann Defense | 68 | 26 | 42 | 0 | 38.2% |
| London System: Poisoned Pawn Variation | 65 | 25 | 38 | 2 | 38.5% |
| Barnes Defense | 49 | 23 | 23 | 3 | 46.9% |
| Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense | 45 | 28 | 16 | 1 | 62.2% |
| French Defense | 43 | 14 | 26 | 3 | 32.6% |
🔥 Streaks
| Streak | Longest | Current |
|---|---|---|
| Winning | 13 | 1 |
| Losing | 20 | 0 |