Bryce Tiglon: The Grandmaster Who Thunders
Bryce Tiglon, better known online as ThunderrPanda, is a FIDE Grandmaster who has turned bullet chess into an art form. He joined the platform in 2017 and quickly became one of the most active and fearless speed chess players around. His preferred time control is bullet, and his results prove why.
Bullet Is Home
ThunderrPanda has played thousands of hyper-fast games, racking up more than 7,600 bullet wins along the way. His peak bullet rating reached 3166 (2020-09-20), while his blitz rating also soared to 2979 (2020-04-02). The chart below shows his bullet rating journey across the years.
His fighting spirit is remarkable. He comes back from losing positions at an 85.28% rate, and even after dropping a piece he still wins over 53% of the time. His losses are rarely one-sided, and he once strung together a 34 game winning streak.
Openings With Personality
ThunderrPanda opens with 1.e4 more often than not, and he is deeply at home in the Sicilian Defense. His favorite lines include the sharp Najdorf Variation and the solid Caro-Kann Defense. He also has a soft spot for offbeat ideas like the Amar Gambit and the wonderfully weird Colle Rhamphorhynchus Variation. Here is a typical Najdorf start straight out of his playbook:
With the white pieces he scores a scorching 57.4% win rate, while with black he still manages 53.96%, which shows he is comfortable no matter which side of the board he sits on.
Rivalries and Grudge Matches
No profile of ThunderrPanda is complete without mentioning his most played opponent, Daniel Naroditsky. The two have faced off a staggering 686 times, making it one of the great online chess rivalries. It has not always been easy for the Panda, as he has 191 wins against 422 losses in that series, but the sheer volume shows he never backs down from a challenge. Against another frequent foe, Riley, he holds a dominant 149 to 45 edge.
- Total games analyzed: over 20,000
- Longest winning streak: 34 games
- Best hour to play: 14:00 UTC, with a 66.32% win rate
- Favorite opening by results: Caro-Kann Defense, with a 58.5% blitz win rate