Avatar of Vandan Alankar Sawai

Vandan Alankar Sawai CM

Username: HatsuzukiMeiso

Playing Since: 2018-04-01 (Active)

Wow Factor: ♟♟♟♟♟

Chess.com

Daily: 1765
79W / 5L / 11D
Rapid: 2436
1202W / 839L / 142D
Blitz: 2606
1410W / 958L / 158D
Bullet: 2420
387W / 187L / 22D

Vandan Alankar Sawai - Candidate Master Extraordinaire

Meet Vandan Alankar Sawai, a chess wizard officially titled as a Candidate Master by FIDE. Known online by the enigmatic alias HatsuzukiMeiso, Vandan has danced through the ranks with a mix of talent, persistence, and just a dash of calculated chaos.

Rising Through the Ranks

Starting from humble beginnings with a rapid rating hovering around 770 in 2018, Vandan embarked on a thrilling climb through the chess universe. By 2025, their rapid rating soared to an impressive 2435 — a rating many grandmasters would tip their bishops for. Not to be outdone, Vandan's blitz rating has reached a lightning-fast 2695, and their bullet games have made opponents blink at a sharp 2410.

A Style All Their Own

Vandan plays with the patience of a saint in the endgame (engaging in endings nearly 67% of the time) and the tactical mind of a fox, boasting a comeback rate close to 80% – because giving up is simply not in their chess vocabulary. Their average winning game stretches to about 69 moves, probably because they like to keep both players on their toes.

Vandan enjoys a slight edge playing with White (58.8% win rate), but don’t count them out with Black either — still a formidable 56.6% win rate. They’ve mastered the art of psychological resilience with a tilt factor of only 10, indicating that despite the blunders, their mood rarely crashes.

Opening Arsenal

Known for their eclectic and secretive "Top Secret" openings — seriously, no one knows what’s in there — Vandan secures win rates north of 60% across many classical lines like the French Defense variations, Giuoco Piano, and the Italian Game. Whether tossing out the French Defense Exchange Variation or goading opponents into the Philidor Defense, Vandan strikes with subtlety and flair.

Victories With Flair

One recent online triumph exemplifies Vandan’s grace under pressure: facing the Scandinavian Defense Mieses-Kotrc Variation on Chess.com, HatsuzukiMeiso meticulously dismantled their opponent, winning by resignation after a tough 59-move battle. The position was so tight, even the kings felt trapped, showcasing Vandan's prowess in squeezing every advantage.

Frenemies & Foes

Vandan is no stranger to competition and has a history of fierce battles against regular opponents like wizard_97 and samuelchess321. Their win record against the chess community is impressive, although certain challengers occasionally survive the storm.

A Word on Timing

Playing late at night or at the stroke of midnight? That’s prime time for Vandan, who boasts a 100% win rate at midnight and at some very specific hours like 23:00 – it seems time really is on their side!

Final Thoughts

In summary, Vandan Alankar Sawai is a chess machine finely tuned for high-level competition. Their journey from a rating novice to a near-grandmaster candidate reflects a blend of strategic mind, tenacity, and maybe a little chess sorcery. If you're looking for an opponent who can outwit you before your coffee cools, look no further — because HatsuzukiMeiso has got your number.


Coach's Avatar

Feedback for Vandan Alankar Sawai

Hi Vandan, you've been showing some great dedication and solid understanding of chess principles in your recent games. Here's some detailed feedback to help you improve further:

Strengths

  • Opening Knowledge: Your choice of openings like the Giuoco Piano and Caro-Kann showcase a strong foundation in classical openings. You understand key development and central control concepts well.
  • Positional Play: You often maneuver your pieces actively and keep your king safe by castling timely. Moves like timely central pawn breaks and piece repositioning indicate good strategic awareness.
  • Endgame Technique: In several games, you converted advantages steadily in the endgame, demonstrating patience and precision, which is vital at your level.

Areas to Improve

  • Time Management: Some losses occurred due to running low on clock or time pressure. Work on balancing your thinking time between moves, especially in complex positions, to avoid rushing critical decisions.
  • Tactical Awareness: While your strategic play is solid, some missed tactical opportunities or oversight of opponent threats were critical. Regular practice with tactical puzzles focusing on forks, pins, and discovered attacks will boost your tactical sharpness.
  • Handling Opponent Initiative: In a few games where opponents seized early initiative, the defense could be improved. Strengthen your skills in counterattacks and positional defense to neutralize opponents' pressure better.
  • Critical Moments Evaluation: Pay close attention to moments where exchanges or pawn breaks occur—consider the resulting imbalances carefully. Enhancing calculation depth here will help in making more effective tactical and strategic choices.

Practical Suggestions

  1. Review your losses to identify recurring patterns or common mistakes. For example, analyze the last lost game here carefully.
  2. Incorporate timed training employing both slower games (to practice deep calculation) and faster ones (to improve intuition and time management).
  3. Use tactical training tools daily to hone pattern recognition. Try setting a goal to complete 10-15 puzzles daily tailored to your current level.
  4. Practice endgame fundamentals to convert advantages smoothly and defend worse positions confidently.

Keep analyzing your games, learning from each move, and maintaining your enthusiasm. With consistent practice and focus on these areas, you’ll see steady progress.

Best of luck on your chess journey, Vandan!



🆚 Opponent Insights

Recent Opponents
ablunderman 1W / 1L / 0D
Babuto 1W / 0L / 0D
rap_woyska 1W / 0L / 0D
Ratatal 0W / 1L / 0D
sla07 1W / 0L / 0D
blindtake 1W / 0L / 0D
bobonchik 0W / 1L / 0D
austrianbeerlover 1W / 3L / 0D
xcgmzs7 0W / 1L / 0D
zibbit64ontwitch 0W / 1L / 0D
Most Played Opponents
Apoorv Kamble 13W / 29L / 5D
samuelchess321 9W / 1L / 0D
basem2001 7W / 2L / 0D
decacorn 4W / 5L / 0D
ehmfl 6W / 1L / 2D

Rating

Year Bullet Blitz Rapid Daily
2025 2420 2606 2436 1765
2024 2090 2440 2250 1690
2023 1458 2165 2249 1012
2022 1640 2023
2021 1926 2112
2020 1289 1889 1767
2019 1176 1494 1561 900
2018 1205 1258 1000
Rating by Year201820192020202120222023202420252606900YearRatingBulletBlitzRapidDaily

Stats by Year

Year White Black Moves
2025 511W / 305L / 58D 467W / 329L / 61D 80.0
2024 340W / 128L / 29D 306W / 162L / 26D 70.6
2023 149W / 98L / 34D 147W / 116L / 16D 75.7
2022 4W / 4L / 0D 1W / 4L / 1D 56.6
2021 130W / 82L / 13D 116W / 91L / 14D 72.6
2020 151W / 118L / 12D 149W / 106L / 21D 69.5
2019 294W / 218L / 26D 302W / 204L / 24D 57.9
2018 34W / 37L / 4D 41W / 31L / 2D 65.4

Openings: Most Played

Blitz Opening Games Wins Losses Draws Win Rate
French Defense 142 88 49 5 62.0%
French Defense: Burn Variation 121 63 50 8 52.1%
French Defense: Advance Variation 86 47 37 2 54.6%
Blackburne Shilling Gambit 82 48 31 3 58.5%
Giuoco Piano: Tarrasch Variation 81 61 18 2 75.3%
Caro-Kann Defense 78 53 16 9 68.0%
French Defense: Exchange Variation 72 44 23 5 61.1%
Scandinavian Defense 71 35 28 8 49.3%
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense 61 37 19 5 60.7%
Philidor Defense 60 37 21 2 61.7%
Rapid Opening Games Wins Losses Draws Win Rate
French Defense 204 121 72 11 59.3%
French Defense: Exchange Variation 168 84 75 9 50.0%
French Defense: Advance Variation 153 80 63 10 52.3%
Blackburne Shilling Gambit 79 39 35 5 49.4%
Giuoco Piano: Tarrasch Variation 74 46 23 5 62.2%
Scandinavian Defense 63 42 20 1 66.7%
French Defense: Burn Variation 59 38 16 5 64.4%
Philidor Defense 53 33 16 4 62.3%
Barnes Defense 47 26 19 2 55.3%
Caro-Kann Defense 45 24 15 6 53.3%
Bullet Opening Games Wins Losses Draws Win Rate
French Defense 65 42 21 2 64.6%
French Defense: Exchange Variation 36 27 7 2 75.0%
Scandinavian Defense 30 20 8 2 66.7%
French Defense: Advance Variation 28 16 10 2 57.1%
French Defense: Burn Variation 22 16 6 0 72.7%
Giuoco Piano: Tarrasch Variation 21 11 9 1 52.4%
Amar Gambit 19 10 8 1 52.6%
Amazon Attack 18 13 5 0 72.2%
Caro-Kann Defense 15 10 3 2 66.7%
French Defense: Classical Variation, Svenonius Variation 15 13 2 0 86.7%
Daily Opening Games Wins Losses Draws Win Rate
French Defense: Advance Variation 12 12 0 0 100.0%
Giuoco Piano: Tarrasch Variation 10 9 1 0 90.0%
French Defense 7 6 0 1 85.7%
Amazon Attack 6 5 1 0 83.3%
French Defense: Exchange Variation 5 4 0 1 80.0%
Scandinavian Defense 5 5 0 0 100.0%
French Defense: Burn Variation 5 4 1 0 80.0%
Barnes Defense 4 3 1 0 75.0%
Blackburne Shilling Gambit 4 3 1 0 75.0%
Unknown 3 3 0 0 100.0%

🔥 Streaks

Streak Longest Current
Winning 29 3
Losing 10 0