Avatar of Stein Aarland

Stein Aarland FM

Username: Soloctavian

Location: Oslo

Playing Since: 2012-01-29 (Active)

Wow Factor: ♟♟♟♟♟♟

Chess.com

Daily: 823
2W / 0L / 0D
Rapid: 2606
516W / 458L / 97D
Blitz: 2723
22407W / 22553L / 3485D
Bullet: 2604
5096W / 5204L / 501D

Stein Aarland - FIDE Master Extraordinaire

Meet Stein Aarland, a chess dynamo who has turned the 64 squares into his personal playground. Holding the prestigious title of FIDE Master, Stein’s journey through the chess universe has been anything but dull. Known in some circles by their username Soloctavian, Stein has battled it out in countless blitz, rapid, bullet, and daily games – proving that whether the clock ticks fast or slow, they’re a formidable force.

Rating Revelations

Starting from a modest blitz rating of about 1400 in 2012, Stein quickly climbed the ranks, breaking through 2600 in blitz by 2021. Bullet and rapid ratings follow a similar tale of steady improvement, with soaring highs beyond 2500 in recent years. Indeed, 2025 is looking bright, with blitz at 2679 and bullet at 2603 – just a whisker away from the elusive 2700 club!

Style & Strategy

Ever the tactician, Stein’s endgame frequency is an impressive nearly 80%, showcasing both patience and precision. Their games tend to be marathons rather than sprints, averaging around 67 moves to victory – a master of grinding down opponents without flashing the panic button (early resignation rate a humble 0.38%). Their comeback prowess is practically legendary with a jaw-dropping 86% comeback rate, and a perfect 100% win rate after losing a piece – because who needs all their soldiers when you’ve got brains and nerve?

Psychological Battleground

While some tilt under pressure, Stein keeps the cool with a tilt factor of just 11, and maintains a solid win rate difference of 46% between rated and casual games. Opponents beware: once Stein locks in, the butterfly nerves stay tucked away.

Famous Foes & Friends

Stein’s most-played opponents include stalwarts like cruz29 and goran_galiot, against whom the battles are fierce and frequent. Interestingly, a few opponents have been lucky with killer win rates against Stein, but the fearless FM keeps on innovating, fighting with unyielding spirit.

Fun Facts

  • Longest winning streak: a mighty 14 games in a row – that’s one hot streak!
  • Games played: Over 40,000 blitz games alone. That’s more chess than many GM’s will see in a lifetime!
  • Prefers tricky, mystery openings – the less the opponent knows, the better.
  • Has a reputation for pulling off the impossible, making unrealistic comebacks look routine.

In the grand theatre of chess, Stein Aarland is the actor-director-writer of their own epic story – both formidable and fun, always ready to accept a challenge and bring the game to life.


Coach's Avatar

Positives in Your Recent Bullet Games

Stein, your recent games reveal several strengths that support your solid performance at the bullet time control:

  • Opening Preparation: You demonstrate familiarity with a variety of openings, including the Nimzo-Larsen Attack and modern setups. This gives you good early game initiative in many matches.
  • Active Piece Play: Your games show consistent attempts to create threats and put pressure on your opponents, especially in the middlegame. Moves like early bishop deployment and well-timed pawn pushes are notable.
  • Endgame Resourcefulness: Even under time pressure, you find ways to convert small advantages or hold challenging positions, which is crucial in bullet chess.
  • Resilience and Tactical Awareness: Despite facing strong opposition, you maintain tactical composure, as seen in successful defenses and capitalizations on opponent mistakes.

Areas for Improvement

To elevate your bullet play further, focusing on the following areas would be beneficial:

  • Time Management: You have occasional declines in clock time, especially seen in critical moves. Enhancing quick, accurate intuition will reduce time pressure in the late middlegame and endgame.
  • Opening Variety and Consistency: While you know several openings, streamlining your repertoire to a few that you excel at can improve consistency and deepen your understanding for faster decision-making.
  • Defensive Maneuvers: Some of the losses stem from tactical oversights or positional concessions. Sharpening your defensive skills and recognizing opponent threats earlier can avoid these pitfalls.
  • Transition Phases: Pay close attention to transitions from opening to middlegame and middlegame to endgame. Improving clarity in these moments can lead to better strategic decisions.

Suggested Focused Training

Given your playing style and recent results, these practice strategies can help maximize your progress:

  • Play Thematic Drills: Practice positions from your favored openings such as Nimzo-Larsen Attack and Modern Defense to perfect typical plans and tactical motifs.
  • Improve Tactical Pattern Recognition: Use rapid puzzles focusing on pins, forks, and discovered attacks to boost your speed and accuracy under time control.
  • Review Losses Thoroughly: Analyze your defeats like the recent game against Shreyan0711 for tactical and strategic lapses, and learn alternative plans.
  • Time Management Drills: Practice playing with increment or limited time per move emphasizing quick, reliable decision-making to simulate bullet pressure.

Additional Insights

Your overall win rate adjusted for opponent strength is around 50.3%, and your rating has shown a modest upward trend recently with a +5 increase over the past month and a positive slope in performance. Continued steady improvement combined with sharpening your opening and endgame technique will lead to stronger results.



🆚 Opponent Insights

Recent Opponents
aplecons 24W / 36L / 2D
bobsolid 2W / 9L / 1D
Gerardo Cabellon 7W / 8L / 0D
juic5r 1W / 1L / 1D
Nicholas Xie 10W / 4L / 3D
practicemakesperfect90 3W / 2L / 0D
xiaottt5164 0W / 2L / 1D
mouseslip-123 2W / 4L / 1D
valpab85 5W / 7L / 1D
alexc 1W / 0L / 0D
Most Played Opponents
Goran Galiot 64W / 37L / 5D
ali shahibzadegan 38W / 65L / 2D
cruz29 50W / 50L / 5D
gusber1 52W / 46L / 4D
Pavel Sevostianov 41W / 49L / 7D

Rating

Year Bullet Blitz Rapid Daily
2025 2604 2648 2606
2024 2570 2662 2527
2023 2507 2506 2508
2022 2486 2420 823
2021 2305 2607 2370
2020 2500 1706
2019 2408
2018 2350
2017 2182
2016 2274
2015 2239
2014 2137
2013 2042
2012 2158
Rating by Year2012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024202526621706YearRatingBulletBlitzRapid

Stats by Year

Year White Black Moves
2025 2433W / 2046L / 319D 2114W / 2266L / 403D 79.3
2024 2205W / 1903L / 282D 1921W / 2140L / 320D 77.6
2023 2125W / 2071L / 301D 1827W / 2346L / 321D 76.0
2022 1232W / 1133L / 143D 1018W / 1323L / 141D 74.8
2021 879W / 763L / 118D 749W / 867L / 127D 75.2
2020 955W / 855L / 174D 851W / 986L / 156D 75.5
2019 1310W / 1063L / 188D 1124W / 1243L / 227D 73.7
2018 973W / 840L / 136D 888W / 919L / 145D 73.2
2017 702W / 512L / 74D 577W / 627L / 70D 72.9
2016 684W / 594L / 68D 591W / 688L / 81D 70.6
2015 449W / 422L / 44D 414W / 468L / 49D 70.7
2014 413W / 399L / 36D 370W / 427L / 37D 68.1
2013 258W / 287L / 24D 230W / 312L / 18D 67.6
2012 334W / 279L / 37D 288W / 334L / 25D 69.7

Openings: Most Played

Blitz Opening Games Wins Losses Draws Win Rate
Sicilian Defense: Closed 4420 2140 2013 267 48.4%
Modern 3640 1663 1723 254 45.7%
Sicilian Defense: Accelerated Dragon 1725 828 730 167 48.0%
QGD: Ragozin 1485 671 711 103 45.2%
Sicilian Defense: Closed, Anti-Sveshnikov Variation, Kharlov-Kramnik Line 1343 651 610 82 48.5%
Amazon Attack 1269 586 590 93 46.2%
Modern Defense: Pterodactyl Variation 1260 537 617 106 42.6%
London System: Poisoned Pawn Variation 1051 475 484 92 45.2%
Czech Defense 997 532 404 61 53.4%
QGD: 4.Nf3 960 498 398 64 51.9%
Rapid Opening Games Wins Losses Draws Win Rate
Sicilian Defense: Closed 97 54 36 7 55.7%
Modern 85 41 35 9 48.2%
Modern Defense: Pterodactyl Variation 42 20 20 2 47.6%
QGD: Ragozin 40 23 16 1 57.5%
Sicilian Defense: Accelerated Dragon 34 17 13 4 50.0%
QGD: 4.Nf3 32 15 16 1 46.9%
Sicilian Defense: Closed, Anti-Sveshnikov Variation, Kharlov-Kramnik Line 30 13 14 3 43.3%
Catalan Opening: Open Defense 26 13 9 4 50.0%
Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense 23 10 12 1 43.5%
London System: Poisoned Pawn Variation 23 9 11 3 39.1%
Bullet Opening Games Wins Losses Draws Win Rate
Sicilian Defense: Closed 1099 545 496 58 49.6%
Modern 799 360 400 39 45.1%
Nimzo-Larsen Attack 483 224 235 24 46.4%
London System: Poisoned Pawn Variation 441 200 220 21 45.4%
Amar Gambit 427 198 213 16 46.4%
Caro-Kann Defense 376 165 194 17 43.9%
Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense 320 184 125 11 57.5%
Benoni Defense: Benoni Gambit Accepted 305 159 138 8 52.1%
Amazon Attack 298 135 155 8 45.3%
Australian Defense 281 149 117 15 53.0%
Daily Opening Games Wins Losses Draws Win Rate
Barnes Opening: Walkerling 1 1 0 0 100.0%
Blackburne Shilling Gambit 1 1 0 0 100.0%

🔥 Streaks

Streak Longest Current
Winning 14 1
Losing 11 0