Don "Metar_Taf": The Human Bullet Train
Don, better known to the chess world as Metar_Taf, is a bullet chess phenomenon. Since 2017, he has turned the one minute time control into an endurance sport, playing thousands of games and peaking at a dizzying 2815 (2026-01-07). If chess were a marathon, Don would run it at a sprint.
A Bullet Career Forged in Chaos
Don's bullet journey started in May 2017 with a modest 1243 rating. He improved through sheer volume. The rating chart tells the story of a player who simply refuses to stop clicking.
His darkest hour was a 46 game losing streak that would make most players uninstall the app. His brightest moment came right after, with a 25 game winning streak. Don does not believe in a slow burn; he believes in chaos.
Rivalries: Friend and Foe
Every legend needs a nemesis. For Don, that nemesis is Kent Slate, who leads their 157 game series in spectacular fashion. Against most of the world Don is dangerous, but against tactic he is often a spectator. His other great rival, Snossij, has battled him 180 times in a tight and tense rivalry. Meanwhile, Temur Shavkatov and TTV-TunkyWunkys have learned to fear the name Metar_Taf, as Don holds dominant winning records against both.
The Opening Zoo
Don is not afraid of unusual openings. He has played hundreds of games with the Amar Gambit, the opening that starts with 1.Nh3 and dares the opponent to figure out what is happening. As Black, he leans on the solid French Defense and the aggressive Sicilian Defense. His pet line in the French looks like this:
The
chart shows his fondness for offbeat lines like the Australian Defense and Barnes Defense, and his surprisingly strong results in the Closed Sicilian.In 2017, Don was a loyal 1.e4 player. By 2025, he had reinvented himself as a 1.d4 grinder. It is the arc of a player who has seen things.
Resilience and Comebacks
Don's superpower is resilience. He wins 84% of games in which he falls behind, and he wins more than half of his games even after losing a piece. He almost never gets blown out, with a one-sided loss rate of just 4.4%. Games against Don tend to go deep: about 75% reach an endgame and the average battle lasts over 70 moves.
He is also a creature of habit. His best hour is 9:00 AM, where his win rate touches 100%, and Tuesdays are his lucky day. Show up on a Tuesday morning and you are in serious trouble.