B·A·F·T

The Berserker

Fast and final while the run holds. When it breaks, the next game goes with it.

Blitzer · Attacker · Fighter · Tilter

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Movement I

How the Berserker wins

Speed

Blitzer

Half or more of your games are fast chess, with bullet counting double against blitz.

You win on the clock’s terms. Pattern recognition and a quick hand, sharpened by volume. You see the shape of a position before slower players finish counting the pawns.

Win condition

Attacker

Your wins come on the board: by checkmate, or by a position so lost the opponent resigns.

You force the issue. Threats the opponent has to answer, attacks that end arguments. Your wins are decisive because you made them decisive.

Bloodlust

Fighter

Fewer than one game in ten ends in a draw.

Every game gets a result. You play level positions for the win, keep the tension when others would trade down, and take your chances.

Nerve

Tilter

You score at least ten points worse in the game after a loss than after a win. That is over thirty games either side, and the gap clears a significance test.

You run on momentum. After a win you play bigger. Streaks are where this style earns its rating, and while one lasts you are genuinely harder to beat.

Movement II

How to beat them

For the player across the board. Four laws, one per letter, each aimed at what the Berserker’s record actually measures.

1
Refuse the race. vs Blitzer
Their record is built on speed. Any position decided by hand-speed is theirs before it starts. Steer for concrete problems that have to be calculated rather than recognized.
2
Survive the storm, then send the bill. vs Attacker
Mate-or-resign is their entire win column. Defend precisely and decline complications you don’t need. An attack survived is material banked, and the quiet endgame owes them nothing.
3
Let them overpress. vs Fighter
Under one game in ten ends level. They’d rather play a worse position than split the point. Hold steady, stay sound, and collect when the winning attempt overreaches.
4
Beat them once, then take the rematch. vs Tilter
Their record says the game after a loss is played at a discount: ten points or more off their win rate, on enough games to be real. The player who just lost to you is the weakest version of them you’ll ever face.

Movement III

How to not get beaten

For the Berserker themselves. Every pole has a price. These are the characteristic risks of the style; your own report shows which ones you’re actually paying for.

1
Never rehearse a mistake at speed. Blitzer
At bullet pace a recurring error never gets examined. It gets drilled, hundreds of times. Review the fast games slowly, or the same trap keeps cashing you out.
2
Always carry a plan B. Attacker
The attack that doesn’t land never refunds its cost. Before you commit, know which endgame you can stand if the storm blows over.
3
Bank the half point when the position says so. Fighter
Never settling turns savable halves into zeros. In a worse position, a draw is rating defended.
4
Stop after two losses. Tilter
Your next game after a loss is played at a measured discount. That is what this letter means. Walking away is the cheapest rating you’ll ever save.