Mats Persson FM

Overview — Mats Persson (Matsanovic)

Mats Persson, often online as Matsanovic, is a FIDE Master and a true blitz aficionado. Fast, fearless and fond of messy middlegames, Mats turns chaotic positions into practical wins and entertaining spectacles. Preferred time control: Blitz.

• Title: FIDE Master
• Preferred time control: Blitz
• Peak snapshots: 2656 (2025-06-23) · 2692 (2023-07-17)
• Trend snapshot (Blitz):

Playing style & strengths

Mats plays like someone who ordered tactics à la carte: inventive, resilient and willing to trade material for initiative. Many wins arrive after long scrambles — he’s comfortable when the clock ticks and pawns fly.

• Style: tactical, practical, favors imbalanced positions
• Endgame savvy: high endgame frequency and strong conversion in long games
• Resilience: high comeback rate; often bounces back after losing material
• Game length (blitz): decisives average around ~80 moves — battles, not sprints

Openings & repertoire highlights

Mats blends mainstream theory with offbeat choices to avoid rote lines. The Sicilian in several guises, the Philidor and the occasional Amazon Attack are staples. He keeps opponents guessing.

• Core lines: Sicilian Defense: Moscow Variation, Sicilian Defense: Alapin Variation, Sherzer Variation, Philidor Defense, Caro-Kann Defense, Amazon Attack: Siberian Attack
• Notable blitz success: strong win rates in Philidor and several Sicilian sub-variations
• Rapid notes: experiments such as Haag Gambit have produced solid rapid results

Career highlights & stats

A busy competitor with a massive blitz sample, Mats combines volume with consistent quality. He’s recorded notable streaks and maintains an almost-even strength-adjusted blitz win rate.

• Long-term blitz sample: thousands of rated games — a prolific blitz grinder
• Streaks: longest winning streak 13 games; longest losing streak 10 games
• Strength-adjusted win rate: Blitz ~0.499 — very competitive against peers
• Typical opening moves: historically e4-heavy, with increasing use of flank systems (b3, c4) recently

Memorable mini-game (study)

A compact example illustrating speed and tactical finishing. Replay and examine the motifs.

Fun facts, training tips & where to follow

• Fun fact: Mats once closed out three blitz wins while under 10 seconds on the clock — calm as a stopwatch.
• Training tip: work long tactical sequences and endgame technique — many wins come after protracted fights.
• Best times: Tuesday and Thursday show slightly higher win rates; mornings (around 11:00) are particularly sharp for Mats.
• Study more games: Mats Persson