Simon Hodges: Bullet Chess Grinder and d4 Loyalist
Simon Hodges, known on the board as Simon-Hodges, is a self-declared d4 loyalist, a chronic under-resigner, and one of the internet's more persistent bullet chess enthusiasts. Since arriving in April 2024, he has played thousands of games across bullet, blitz, rapid, and daily chess, with a clear preference for formats that finish before your tea gets cold. His repertoire is built around a single idea: 1.d4, played over 3,000 times. His 1.e4 count? Fourteen games in three years, each one presumably a mouse malfunction.
The Bullet Years
Simon's bullet journey began humbly in April 2024 around the 230s. By May he was hooked, squeezing 271 bullet games into a single month. March 2026 went further still with roughly 470 games, which works out to about fifteen bullet games a day, every day, a schedule that raises questions about his other hobbies.
His favorite way to win is not checkmate, though he has delivered more than 1,200 of those. It is the timeout. Nearly 900 victories have come from opponents simply running out of clock, proof that in Simon's world the clock is not a constraint, it is a weapon. The toughness numbers back it up: he resigns early in barely 2% of his games and claws back from lost-looking positions with an 82.7% comeback rate. Peak bullet form arrived in October 2026: 666 (2026-10-09)
Opening Report: d4 and a Little Chaos
As White, the London System with its Poisoned Pawn ideas is the workhorse, with well over 500 bullet games at a win rate hovering right around 50%, which in bullet is basically a superpower. The real profit, however, lives in the Colle System lines, especially after 3...e6 4.Bd3 c5, a setup that has produced win rates north of 60% in both bullet and blitz.
As Black, the tongue-twisting Australian Defense has absorbed more than 600 bullet games at a break-even score, while the French Defense is his rapid-chess scalpel, winning nearly 73% of the time. A typical evening in the Hodges household looks like this:
The Nemesis Files
Every grinder needs a rival, and Simon has two. The first is tomyhodges, an opponent with a suspiciously matching surname and a 140-game head-to-head record that reads 88 wins to Simon's 47. Whether that makes him a brother, a cousin, or simply a man who memorized Simon's notebook, the numbers suggest family dinner conversations are tense.
The second is redsn0rlax, who has claimed 46 of their 63 meetings. Some rivalries are best left unexamined. In Simon's defense, he holds winning records against most of his other regulars, including manuelaperry and cripler, so the universe is not entirely against him.
Style Notes
- Queen first, questions later: 7,145 of his checks have come from the queen. When Simon knocks, it is Her Majesty doing the knocking.
- He lands the first check 55% of the time and wins 58% of those games, an aggression-to-profit ratio most bullet players would trade a rook for.
- The first capture usually arrives around move 7. Development first, punching second.
- Endgames appear in about 41% of his games. Even bullet cannot kill his technique.
- Best hour of the day: 11 a.m., where his win rate touches 70%. Late morning Simon is a problem. So is everyone else at that hour, apparently.
- Tilt factor: minimal. A 10-game losing streak exists in the record, but so does a 12-game winning streak, and the order of those two events is nobody's business.
- Rated games bring out his best: his rated performance runs roughly 27 points above his casual one. Simon does not do friendly games; he does scoreboard.
The Verdict
Simon Hodges is the kind of player who makes d4 look like a personality trait and treats a lost position like a rumor. His daily chess climb from the 400s to the mid-900s shows the slower formats respect him too, and his 2026 bullet renaissance shows the clock loves him right back. If you queue up against Simon-Hodges, bring a solid setup, keep an eye on your time, and do not expect an early handshake. He has a comeback rate to maintain.