Arthur Calugar: Chess May Not Be Fun, But He Keeps Coming Back
Arthur Calugar, known online as ChessAintFun, is a FIDE International Master whose username might be the biggest lie in online chess. Despite claiming the game is not fun, he has played thousands of rated games, built an 89.56% comeback rate, and created enough blitz battles to fuel a small chess tournament.
A Blitz Lifelong Love
Blitz is Arthur's territory. The chart below shows a player who rises, falls, and rises again over more than a decade, and the result is a Blitz peak of 2900. His preferred time control is Blitz, and by peak games there is no debate. He has won about 4,958 Blitz games and 4,531 losses, so he is not afraid to spend time on the board.
A Repertoire With Personality
Arthur is not a one-trick player. He has used the Nimzo-Larsen Attack as White, a large number of Caro-Kann Defense games as Black, and dozens of Sicilian Defense variations from both sides. His most fun line is the Blackburne Shilling Gambit, a cheeky opening trap he has played in over 700 Blitz games; even in a gambit, he keeps a winning rate near 49%.
- He has a winning record against 2.8% more moves than expected? No, but he plays to the end of the game, with an 85.86% endgame frequency.
- He is resilient after a poor start: even after his own lost a piece, he still won 45.29% of the games, which is grim if you are his opponent.
- He rarely leaves early, and a long struggle with a slow clock is exactly where he is most dangerous.
Rivalries That Define Him
Some rivals make legends. Against [[rapzyszn]], Arthur has a score of 47 wins and 0 defeats, a one-sided online rivalry that is both hilarious and real. Against [[khatanbaatar]] it is a much longer story: 66 games, with Arthur winning 31, both sides fighting to the end.
A Runner Who Doesn't Tilt Out of Bed
Arthur has two long streaks: 26 wins in a row, and 12 losses in a row. But even a 12-game slide did not end him. His stat is that he keeps an almost 89% comeback rate, and after losing a piece he still wins nearly one game in two books. That sounds like someone whose username should be ChessRiskBetter, not ChessAintFun.