Meet Jakub Masłowski, aka Bev-wow
Jakub Masłowski, better known online as Bev-wow, is a FIDE Candidate Master who has turned online chess into a full contact sport. His preferred time control is Rapid, but you would never know it from his Blitz output, where he has played thousands of games and rocketed to a peak of 2709 (2026-05-18). In Rapid he is just as dangerous, reaching 2577 (2026-03-18). The rating climb has been spectacular, and the journey from tricky opening enthusiast to serious title holder is one of the most entertaining arcs in the player pool.
An Opening Chameleon
Jakub's opening story is a tale of glorious rebellion. For years he happily kicked off games with the cheeky Amar Gambit (1.a3!), leaving opponents to wonder what just happened. As Black, he famously embraced the Barnes Defense and the Benoni Defense, never afraid to defend offbeat positions with a smirk. Over time he matured into a sharp 1.e4 player, yet the old opening habits never fully disappeared. He also enjoys the Sicilian Defense battleground, especially the Alapin Variation, and can whip out a Scotch Game when he wants to keep things simple.
Rivalries and Comebacks
No online warrior is complete without rivals. Jakub's most frequent dance partner is swop1107, who has faced him 65 times in a bruising back and forth. He has also built a healthy rivalry with michael124667 and a tougher series against sinisa kovacevic, where the games are always close. His stats reveal a fighter's mentality: an astonishing comeback rate of nearly 88 percent and the ability to win after losing material almost half the time. On the flip side, his tilt factor is a spectacular 10, which means when things go bad they go very bad, including a 10 game losing streak that he answered with an 11 game winning streak. That is the full Bev-wow experience.
Offbeat Numbers
- He delivers the first check in roughly 59 percent of games, and when he does he wins more often than not.
- Games tend to go long, with wins and losses averaging around 68 to 69 moves. He treats the endgame as home, with an endgame frequency of 73 percent.
- Against lower rated opposition he is clinical with a 64 percent win rate, but against higher rated players he still scrapes out wins nearly 29 percent of the time.
- His best hour on the board is around 21:00, when the coffee is strong and the internet connection behaves.