Valery Sviridov, a.k.a. Valera_B5
Valery Sviridov is a National Master whose online username sounds like he is always watching an eye on the b5 square. He has the patience of a Rapid player, the habits of a bullet fanatic, and an opening catalogue that reads like a mystery shelf. His handle is Valera_B5, and his play refuses to be tidy.
The Joy of Unusual Openings
Valery does not simply play the same handful of moves as everyone else. He happily goes into the Alekhine Defense, sets up the tricky Nimzo-Larsen Attack, and is not afraid of uncommon openings with great names: Barnes Defense, Amar Gambit, Australian Defense, and Italian curiosities. He is the kind of player who treats an opening database like a pickle table, not a rulebook.
His opening performance chart is a little treasure map:
.Friends, Enemies, Repeat Opponents
Valery has played a lot of regulars. Against Alexander Kopylov he holds a comfortable record, with 77 wins and only 38 losses. Against Jose Martinez, however, the story is humbled different: after 112 games, jospem has given Valery far more losses than wins. Still, a player with a 14 game losing streak is not afraid to keep showing up.
He even enjoys a surprising ancient edge against Harshad S, a username that should be dangerous but has never been able to handle him. He leaves that series with 41 wins.
The Resilience Files
Valery is a fighter. His longest winning streak is 13 games, and his longest losing streak is 14, which sounds like he demanded proof of both worlds. He also has a comeback rate of more than 86 percent and a win rate after losing a piece that is far higher than normal chess physics should allow.
- Longest winning streak: 13
- Longest losing streak: 14
- Comeback rate: 86.56%
- Win rate after losing a piece: 49.11%
His natural best hour is 2:00 in the morning, and that probably explains the rest. At his wild peak, he reached 3036 (2023-12-12) in bullet, but he treats that as just a warm-up for his true love.
Rapid: Short But Perfect
Here is the plot twist. Valery has survived enough bullet games to make a server tired, but his preferred time control is Rapid. In Rapid, his ledger is not a split: 5 games, 5 wins, 0 draws, 0 losses. It is a small sample, yes, but it is also a perfect 100 percent sample. Maybe Rapid is the only clock that lets him breathe.