Overview
Paul Macklin (paulmacklin) is a FIDE Master and a feared blitz specialist. He prefers fast time controls and has built a reputation for long, tactical games that often go into the endgame. Over nearly 2,400 recorded blitz games he has racked up a lot of wins, a few dramatic comebacks, and enough opening experiments to keep opponents guessing.
- Title: FIDE Master
- Preferred time control: Blitz
- Recorded blitz games: 2,398 (Wins 1,252 Losses 977 Draws 169)
- Peak recorded blitz rating: 2548 (2019-07-06)
- Rating trend snapshot:
Playing Style
Paul tends to play long decisive games and enters complex endgames often. He is not the fastest quitter. In fact he reaches endgames far more frequently than the average blitz player and his average decisive game runs into the high 60s in moves. Expect tactical turns even late in the game.
- Endgame frequency: high (about 78 percent)
- Average moves per win: about 68
- Average first capture around move: 8
- Early resignation rate: 20 percent
- Tactical strengths: strong comeback ability and solid win rate after material losses
Openings and Repertoire
Paul favors flexible and sometimes offbeat systems. He enjoys the Sicilian family and several modern defenses. The Alapin sees heavy play in his games when he has choice of lines. Below are highlights of openings and how they tend to go.
- Most-played umbrella: Modern
- Favorite Sicilian branch: Sicilian Defense: Alapin Variation — excellent win rate when played
- Other reliable choices: Barnes Defense, Czech Defense, and Caro-Kann Exchange
- White repertoire includes aggressive lines like the Italian Game: Two Knights Defense with superb results
Openings Performance (high level)
Selected blitz opening win rates from recorded play.
- Sicilian Defense: Alapin Variation — about 58 percent win rate
- Sicilian Defense overall — about 56 percent win rate as White
- B06 Modern structures — roughly 52 percent win rate
- Barnes Defense as Black — roughly 57 percent win rate
Streaks and Notable Records
Paul has enjoyed hot streaks and has also survived long cold spells. His resilience is a theme in his career.
- Longest winning streak: 11 games
- Current winning streak: 5 games
- Longest losing streak: 9 games
- Notable head-to-head: positive record against mixeili1981 (12–6–1)
- Most played opponents include mixeili1981, milostb, and djager97
Time and Psychological Trends
Paul has clear windows of peak performance. He is especially dangerous late at night and has a surprisingly strong comeback rate when under pressure.
- Best time of day: around 03:00 according to recorded results
- Strong hours: midnight and early morning show elevated win rates
- Tilt factor: moderate, which means he mostly bounces back after tough losses
- Comeback rate: very high, a hallmark of his tactical resilience
Representative Game
A short sample from Paul shows his flair for the Sicilian and willingness to take long technical fights. View the full game below.
- Sample game: View Game
- Replay snippet:
Fun Facts
Paul mixes seriousness with a sense of humor at the board. He can grind opponents down in endgames, but he also keeps a bag of tricks for the opening phase.
- He gives the queen a lot of work. Queen checks are his most common way to harass kings.
- Favorite first move overall in 2018 was 1.e4 by a wide margin.
- If you face him at 03:00 you might be in trouble. Bring coffee or a novelty opening.
Explore More
For a quick dive into Paul Macklin's style try searching games where he plays the Sicilian Alapin or the Barnes Defense. The placeholders above help you jump directly into charts and a sample game.
- Peak snapshot: 2548 (2019-07-06)
- Rating chart:
- Openings to study: Sicilian Defense: Alapin Variation, Barnes Defense