Pui Yin Brandon Chan: The Candidate Master Who Studies the Egg
From Egg to Endgame
Pui Yin Brandon Chan, known online as Eggcomesbeforechicken, is a FIDE Candidate Master who appears to have answered the oldest riddle in chess: the egg moves first, then the pieces start falling, and somehow he still wins.
His preferred battlefield is blitz. He treats the clock like breakfast, especially when the position gets messy. The steady climb from sharp opening to full-blown scramble is easy to see in
: a few plateaus, plenty of comebacks, and enough chicken scraps to rebuild an entire opening tree.The Opening Cabinet: Shells, Wings, and One French Problem
Brandon is not shy about standing in theory. He regularly steps into the Sicilian Defense with both colors, leans on the solid Caro-Kann Defense, and sometimes drifts into a quiet Réti Opening when he wants the board to feel like a Sunday walk.
The Sicilian shows up early in his games, with the familiar moves:
Then there is the gloriously odd stuff. His signature blitz weapon is a sharp line called the Rhamphorhynchus Variation, and that pterodactyl has eaten well: he won eight of nine blitz games on that branch. Even his pet lines have mood swings, though. The French Defense: Advance Variation turned into a stubborn 0-5 rut in blitz, which is a polite way of saying the chicken sometimes comes home to roost and takes the draw offer.
One Opponent, 156 Chapters
If his history were a cookbook, one name would be printed in bold: Chun Yung Samuel Lam. These two have faced each other 156 times, which resembles less a rivalry and more a permanent lunch table that got out of hand. The scorebook may not always smile on Brandon, but he keeps coming back, offering pieces, taking risks, and instantly rematching anyway.
Every argument eventually needs a shared board:
What the Numbers Whisper
- Comeback rate: He rallies to win nearly 80% of the games where he looks lost. Do not celebrate early.
- After losing a piece: He still finds the win about 49% of the time, which is far too often for comfort.
- Streaks: The longest winning run is 28 games; the longest losing run is 8. The chicken does not stay down for long.
- Best hour: The clock treats him best around 01:00, so give him a night game and watch the rook land like a midnight drumstick.
- Color balance: He scores roughly 54% with White and 53% with Black, meaning he will checkmate you from either side of the mirror.
The username may be a pun, but the play is real. Eggcomesbeforechicken is on the move in a blitz lobby near you. Bring a clock, a spare queen, and maybe not the French Defense.