Eduard Cervelli: The Patron of Malice on the Blitz Board
Eduard Cervelli, known online as Patron_del_Mal, is a FIDE Candidate Master whose online play has earned him a devoted following among Blitz fans. His username hints at a dark sense of humor, and his results back up the menace. Cervelli's preferred arena is the Blitz time control, where he has played more than 1,100 rated games and turned a modest 1758 rating in May 2025 into a spectacular peak of 2717 by September 2026.
A Meteoric Rise
Cervelli's Blitz graph is the stuff of climbing montages. In just over a year, he gained nearly 1,000 rating points, weathering a ten game losing streak and a serious bout of tilt without ever losing his taste for a fight. His comeback rate sits at 88.19 percent, and he still wins 45.27 percent of games after giving up a piece. He is also a creature of habit: his best results arrive around 11:00 in the morning, when his win rate climbs to 58.54 percent.
His all time Blitz ceiling is 2717 (2026-09-24), reached in September 2026.
Repertoire and Style
Cervelli is a devoted 1.e4 player, choosing the king pawn in nearly 500 recorded games. With White, he is a nightmare in the Caro-Kann Defense, winning 66.1 percent of his Blitz games, and he is just as dangerous in the Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation at 62.2 percent. His sharpest weapon may be the Giuoco Piano: Tarrasch Variation, where he converts 75 percent of his Blitz games. As Black, he remains dangerous in the Najdorf at 57.7 percent, though the Catalan Opening: Open Defense has given him fits at just 26.1 percent.
He also enjoys offbeat lines such as the Amazon Attack: Siberian Attack and the Blackburne Shilling Gambit, which produce messy positions and even messier time scrambles. A typical Cervelli Najdorf setup looks like this:
.Rivalries
Every online warrior has rivals, and Cervelli's record against his most frequent opponents is a study in contrasts. He has dominated Eugene Furman with a 4-1 record and holds a 4-2 edge over joerggreenwood. He has also handled rikchessmx well at 3-0-1. But two names stand out as kryptonite: Uliana Dudkina and Sreyas Payyappat have both beaten him four times without a single loss. Meanwhile, his battles with mcchessgod remain dead even at 2-2 with two draws. These rivalries keep the Patron_del_Mal coming back for more.
Beyond Blitz
Cervelli is primarily a Blitz specialist, but his Rapid and Bullet play show the same fighting DNA. In Rapid, he has climbed to a peak rating of 2333 (2026-09-21) with a perfect 3-0 record in the Caro-Kann as White. In Bullet, he reached 2574 (2026-07-25) before a rough patch in September 2026. His strength adjusted win rate in Blitz is 53.2 percent, while in Rapid it jumps to a formidable 71.2 percent.
Numbers at a Glance
- FIDE title: Candidate Master
- Username: Patron_del_Mal
- Preferred time control: Blitz
- Peak Blitz rating: 2717 (2026-09-24)
- Peak Rapid rating: 2333 (2026-09-21)
- Peak Bullet rating: 2574 (2026-07-25)
- Longest winning streak: 8 games
- Longest losing streak: 10 games
- Best time of day: 11:00
- Favorite first move: 1.e4