Кирилл Решетков: The Rook-Checking Candidate Master
Кирилл Решетков, known on the chess server simply as Reshetkov, is a FIDE Candidate Master who has spent more than a decade turning blitz chess into something between a science and an art form. Since first appearing in November 2014, he has played thousands of fast games, climbed from the 1300s to the rarefied air above 2900, and generally made life miserable for everyone queued against him.
The Blitz Grinder
Blitz is where Kirill truly lives. His
reads like a mountain range that only goes up: a breakout run in late 2014, a steady grind through the 2500s in the mid-2010s, and a spectacular surge in the mid-2020s that pushed his peak to an eye-watering 2911. He is also something of a bullet chess monster, having cracked the 3000 barrier, but blitz remains his true home.- Over 2500 blitz wins against roughly 1400 losses across his career
- A longest winning streak of 24 straight games, surely leaving a trail of bewildered opponents behind
- A bullet peak above 3000, proving he can play fast and strong
Opening Repertoire: The Alekhine Aficionado
Kirill's opening choices are refreshingly unorthodox. As Black, his signature is the Alekhine Defense, played in over a thousand games across time controls with a win rate flirting with 60 percent. Invite your knight to the edge of the board and Kirill will happily chop away at it. On the White side, he rotates through the Nimzo-Larsen Attack (1.b3, because why not), the Amazon Attack, and the Benoni Gambit Accepted, a line that wins nearly 70 percent of the time. Opponents expecting mainline theory are in for a long afternoon.
- Most trusted weapon as Black: the Alekhine Defense
- Favorite White surprise: the Nimzo-Larsen Attack, deployed hundreds of times
- Secret sauce: the Benoni Gambit Accepted, statistically his most profitable line
Nemesis Files
Every grinder has their rivals, and Kirill's most-played opponent is rivsx, against whom he has built a staggering 68-12 record over 80 encounters. That is not a rivalry; that is a hostage situation. His duels with gidropark have gone almost as well, while ameet Ghasi remains one of the few players who has actually kept things roughly even, edging the head-to-head by a single game. Somewhere out there, ameet100 is very proud of this.
Style and Quirks
The numbers reveal a player of patience and persistence. Nearly 83 percent of his games reach the endgame, his wins average a marathon 85 moves, and he claims victory in more than 87 percent of games where he fought back from a worse position. He prefers to check with his rooks, apparently believing that a rook check is both a chess move and a personality trait. He also resigns early at a rate under two percent, meaning he will squeeze a dry position for 90 moves before conceding anything.
Statistically, his best hour to play is 3:00 in the morning, when his win rate peaks. Whether this is dedication, insomnia, or a timezone nobody has correctly guessed remains one of the great unanswered questions of online chess.
The Legacy So Far
From a Candidate Master title to a comeback rate most players only dream about, Kirill Reshetkov has built his reputation the old-fashioned way: one blitz game at a time, thousands of them, mostly at odd hours, mostly with a rook check around move 30. If you find yourself paired against Reshetkov at 3 AM and he opens with 1.b3, our condolences. Play the Alekhine if you must, but know that hundreds have tried and the scoreboard does not lie.