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Chess

Chess in my life

I was introduced to the game of chess in elementary school, through the school club. I really don't remember much of that, but (apparently) I won first place in a couple of semesters for my grade. Much later, I started watching some chess analysis/recap YouTube videos, I think in high school. I really started playing again and got way more into it during the pandemic, which was when I made my chess.com account. Nowadays I mostly just turn my brain off and play bullet for fun.

My (approximate) current ratings on chess.com: bullet ~2400, blitz ~2200, rapid ~2100. I haven't really tried to push any of my ratings recently; I play a lot of unrated.

Pictures

Pictures from my chess playing. A friend of mine custom built the board for me.

Chess trophy
My chess set

My favorite openings

I'm an e4 player with white. I really like playing sharp and tactical openings, which is ironic because I think my strengths are probably more positional play and endgames. I likely push my f pawn too much ... then again, maybe that's a good thing for bullet?

Below, I list some of my favorite variations.

With white

  • Giuoco Piano: Evans Gambit
  • Caro-Kann: Fantasy Variation
  • Sicilian: Grand Prix Attack
  • Alekhine's: Four Pawns Attack

With black

  • Caro-Kann Defense
  • Sicilian Defense: Dragon
  • Nimzo-Indian Defense
  • King's Indian Defense
Email: abenda [at] utexas [dot] edu © 2026 Aaron Benda · Austin, TX