Vadim Biliy IM

Who Is Vadim Biliy?

Vadim Biliy is a FIDE-titled International Master who treats blitz chess the way other people treat cardio: regularly, intensely, and with a suspicious amount of stamina. Since first appearing in the records in March 2018 he has logged more than 12,400 blitz games, and his preferred time control is no mystery to anyone who has glanced at his history. He is a d4 player by conviction, an endgame specialist by habit, and a rook-check enthusiast by, frankly, addiction.

From Humble Beginnings to Blitz Heavyweight

Every great climb needs an honest first step, and Vadim's was exactly that: his earliest recorded blitz rating sits at 1014, posted in March 2018. What followed was less a climb and more an escalator ride. Within fifteen months he had pushed toward 2300, and by spring 2025 he had crossed the 2400 wall in both blitz and rapid, peaking at 2403 in blitz in May 2025 (2403 (2025-05-22)) and 2402 in rapid in June (2402 (2025-06-01)). His

Repertoire: A d4 Debutante with a Czech Soul

With the white pieces, Vadim opens 1.d4 so consistently that his e4 pawn occasionally checks whether it still has a job. His most frequent dance partner is the Döry Defense, a setup involving an early bishop development that he has met well over 1,100 times, and the East Indian Defense is another regular guest, alongside a Poisoned Pawn build of the London System he has driven more than 600 laps.

With black, he plants the flag of the Czech Defense roughly 1,400 times, making the sturdy Czech pawn chain essentially an extension of his personality. For the connoisseurs, here is the shape of the thing:

He also dabbles in the Benoni Gambit Accepted and various Pirc structures, presumably so opponents cannot memorize a single script against him.

Playing Style: Comeback Artist in a Long Game

Roughly 85 percent of his games reach an endgame, and his average win takes about 76 moves, which means if you blunder on move 20, do not relax. His comeback rate is close to 89 percent, and he still wins more than 40 percent of games after dropping a piece himself. His most common checking piece is the rook by a landslide, with nearly 11,000 rook checks delivered, plus a truly unhinged 62 checks with the king. His one-sided loss rate is a microscopic 0.39 percent, so if he loses, you usually earned it the slow way.

Rivalries and Nemesis Management

No biography of a blitz grinder is complete without recurring characters. His most played opponent is Tom Borvander, against whom the score sits at 23 wins, 22 losses and 4 draws over 49 games, a rivalry so balanced it may need a therapist. anatolihakobyan owns the biggest edge over him, and Jorge A González Rodríguez has been a reliable headache as well. Vadim, for his part, keeps booking the rematches, which is the true sign of an optimist.

Fast Facts

• Best hour to face him: do not, it is 7 a.m., when his win rate touches 50 percent. His 5 a.m. self is far more forgiving.
• Longest winning streak: 11 games. Longest losing streak: 10 games, endured with a placid tilt factor of 10 out of 100.
• He wins about 42 percentage points more often in casual games than in rated ones, so consider yourself warned twice.
• Against lower-rated players he wins about 61 percent of the time; against higher-rated opposition closer to 29 percent. He plays them anyway.
• Over 5,200 blitz wins and counting, most of them sealed deep in endgames with a rook check for the final word.

The Verdict

Vadim Biliy is the kind of International Master who makes blitz look like a thinking person's game and the endgame look like an endurance sport. Challenge him in the morning, challenge him at midnight, but know that around move 70 he will probably still be there, rook hovering, patient as a Czech pawn chain.