Overview
Araz Alakhverdiev (paladin_ll) is a FIDE Master and a blitz specialist known for a fast, creative and tenacious approach to online chess. Preferring blitz time controls, Araz mixes deep opening preparation with a willingness to play long tactical scrambles. Search engines: Araz Alakhverdiev chess, FIDE Master, blitz specialist, Reti Opening, English Opening.
- Username: paladin_ll
- Title: FIDE Master
- Preferred time control: Blitz
- Notable strength: Tactical awareness and comeback ability
Playing Style
Araz is the kind of player who treats blitz like a sprint with puzzles. Games often go long for blitz standards, with many decisive endgames and a high average moves per decisive result. Opponents can expect flexible first moves, frequent Nf3 play and a taste for asymmetrical middlegames where tactics decide the day.
- High endgame frequency and long average decisive games
- Strong comeback rate after setbacks
- Plays a lot of Nf3 as White and leans on hypermodern setups
Openings and Repertoire
Openings that define Araz in blitz include the Reti Opening and several English Opening systems. On the Black side there is heavy experience facing and employing Sicilian structures and the Accelerated Dragon family. Expect solid hypermodern setups as White and sharp counterplay as Black.
- White favorites: Reti Opening, English Opening
- Black favorites: Sicilian Defense families - Accelerated Dragon and Closed Sicilian
- Notable repertoire nugget: strong results in English Opening Symmetrical Variation lines
Career Highlights
Araz climbed the blitz ladder steadily and peaked at an impressive blitz rating. Here is a quick snapshot and an embedded rating trend for visual context.
- Peak Blitz rating: 2538 (2026-01-03)
- Extensive experience: thousands of blitz games with nearly balanced win and loss totals
Araz is known for marathon online sessions and a knack for turning lost positions into wins. That combination of endurance and tactics has produced many surprise victories and long, entertaining games.
Memorable Games
Here is a short illustrative miniature showing typical opening ideas and a lively middlegame. Replay in the embedded viewer to see how fast plans can become fireworks in blitz.
For a sample opponent matchup try this internal reference: View Sample Game.
Frequent Opponents
Araz has built rivalries and repeat matchups that sharpen his play. A few of the most-played accounts are listed below.
- elvin_chess - most played; many decisive encounters elvin_chess
- prokurorpro - close head to head history Aleksandr Makedonsky
- stefanbusch and premiumflyer appear frequently on the scoreboard
Fun Facts
- Araz treats blitz like a breakfast sport. Best hour of the day: around 01:00 according to play trends.
- Average decisive game length in blitz is unusually long, so expect fireworks that do not fizz out quickly.
- Early resignation rate is low enough that spectators get to see the fights through to the end.
- Nickname idea: "The Paladin of Nf3" for an opening habit that shows up in many years.
Resources and Placeholders
Use these placeholders to explore Araz's profile and repertoire further. They are internal and designed to enrich the page.
- Rating trend widget:
- Peak blitz stat: 2538 (2026-01-03)
- Explore common openings: Reti Opening, English Opening
- Sample game viewer: View Game