Meet Vlad Tomescu
Vlad Tomescu, known online as tomescuv, is a FIDE International Master who lives for Blitz chess. With more than 15,800 rated Blitz games on record, he is the kind of player who makes “preferred time control” feel like a personal motto. He is fearless, tireless, and always ready to test an unusual idea over the board.
Playing Style and Opening Repertoire
Vlad opens with 1.e4 in the vast majority of his games. As White, he scores well with the Bishop's Opening: Vienna Hybrid, Hromádka Variation and the Vienna Gambit with Max Lange Defense. Against the Sicilian, he gravitates toward the Sicilian Defense: Chekhover Variation, while also handling the Caro-Kann Defense and Scandinavian Defense with confidence.
The real fun starts when Vlad has the black pieces. His most common response is the Barnes Defense, an offbeat opening he has played thousands of times. He also mixes in the Australian Defense and the Amazon Attack, which makes preparing for him a genuine guessing game. When he slows down to Rapid, his results are even more impressive, with 108 wins and only 19 losses.
Signature Rivalries
Every prolific Blitz player needs worthy rivals, and Vlad has plenty. His most frequent opponent is Francisco Silva Gonzalez, who has faced him 173 times in Blitz. Vlad holds a narrow edge with 87 wins, 74 losses, and 12 draws. Their games have the feel of a long-running soap opera, complete with dramatic swings and endless rematches.
- Francisco Silva Gonzalez: 173 games, 87 wins, 12 draws
- risperdal_for_kramnik: 118 games, 49 wins, 22 draws
- Max Khovanski: 79 games, 54 wins
- giantmutantoctopus: 64 games, 31 wins
Career Snapshot
Vlad has been a consistent high-level Blitz performer since his rating first broke past 2500 in late 2021. His best Blitz rating came in March 2022, when he reached 2581 (2022-03-26). One especially busy stretch in September 2021 saw him play 931 Blitz games in a single month, with more than 460 wins. He also reached a Rapid peak of 2369 in 2023.
Fun Facts and Tendencies
Vlad is a night owl. His best win rates come after 2 AM, with 3 AM being his strongest hour. He is also a comeback artist, converting losing positions back into wins at an 87.78 percent rate. His longest winning streak is 17 games, and his longest losing streak is 15, which suggests he never does anything by halves.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays he is especially dangerous, and against lower-rated opponents he wins nearly 59 percent of the time. Opponents who want to beat him should probably schedule their games for Saturday, bring their best defensive technique, and pray that he does not choose another offbeat opening.