Ilya Gutkin, known online as ilushka, is a FIDE Master who thrives in fast time controls and creative openings. Beginning to appear in recorded play around 2012, they have built a long, colorful career across Blitz, Bullet, and Rapid formats. Their peak Blitz rating reached 2689 on 2025-03-20, a testament to peak form in the fast games they love.
Career and Playing Style
ilushka plays with resilience and a practical sense, often turning sharp tactics into solid endgames. They boast a diverse opening repertoire, with notable success in Colle System: Rhamphorhynchus Variation and several French Defense lines, among others, reflecting a curious and adaptable approach. A high comeback rate and a calm, humorous demeanor help them keep pressure on opponents while the clock runs down.
Preferred time control: Blitz
Title: FIDE Master (FM)
Opening strengths in Blitz: Colle System: Rhamphorhynchus Variation; French Defense variations
Notes
Trivia: ilushka's playful irreverence at the board is legendary in online circles, and they often joke that the clock is merely their second opponent.
Coach Chesswick
What you’re doing well
In your recent blitz games you’ve shown strong appetite for tactical play and initiative. You often press with active piece placement and create practical chances that put pressure on your opponents. When you have the initiative, you convert into tangible advantages and, in several games, you finished with a clean, practical win. Your endgames show you’re able to simplify when favorable and keep the fight alive when there’s still material on the board. Overall, your willingness to complicate in blitz works in your favor and keeps opponents on their toes.
Willingness to enter sharp lines and seek active play rather than passive defense
Ability to press in middlegame and generate multiple threats
Resourcefulness in converting advantages into decisive outcomes when opportunities arise
Key areas to improve
Time management under blitz pressure: Develop a simple, repeatable plan for the opening and the first 15 moves, then reassess. Avoid spending too long on early decisions that leave you with little time for critical moments later.
Decision discipline in complex positions: When the board becomes tactical, quickly prioritize forcing moves or straightforward exchanges that simplify and reduce risk. If none are forcing, aim for solid, development-ready moves that maintain structure.
Opening preparation with a safety net: You sometimes choose aggressive lines; build a small, reliable repertoire with one primary plan and a clear fallback. This reduces risk when an opponent sidesteps your main idea.
Endgame technique under time pressure: Practice key rook endings and king-pawn endings to improve your conversion ability in situations where you’re up or have a fortress-like defense.
Opening and strategic pattern guidance
Your openings show a mix of dynamic and solid setups. Focusing on a tight, well-understood subset of patterns can yield big gains in blitz. Consider deepening your understanding of typical pawn structures and piece harmony in your two most-used defenses, and prepare a concise plan for each. Memorizing a few representative move orders can help you stay ahead in the critical first 10-15 moves and avoid early missteps.
Training plan for the next 2-4 weeks
Daily tactical practice for 15-20 minutes focusing on patterns that frequently appear in blitz (forks, back-rank motifs, discovered attacks).
Endgame practice: two short rook or king-pawn endgames per week to improve practical conversion skills.
Opening reinforcement: choose 1-2 openings you enjoy and build a compact 15-20 move repertoire with clear middlegame plans and common refrain moves.
Post-game review ritual: after each session, analyze 1-2 critical mistakes, write down the correct approach, and note why it works.
Optional quick reference
If you want, we can generate a focused study snippet from one of your recent games to review a key decision point. For example, a short Pgn snippet highlighting a tactical turning point:
