Joshua (Haojia) Liu: The Rapid-Fire Candidate Master
From Rising Junior to Candidate Master
Joshua (Haojia) Liu, known on the board as HaoJia_2012, has earned the FIDE title of Candidate Master through sheer volume and stubborn improvement. A player who clearly prefers the rhythm of rapid chess, Joshua has logged thousands of rated encounters since early 2025, turning online queues into a personal training ground for title-level play.
His growth has been anything but linear, and that is exactly what makes him dangerous. A dip in the summer of 2025 was followed by a ferocious autumn climb, with his rapid rating surging past the 2400 mark by early 2026.
shows the upward trajectory of a player who simply refuses to stay down.By June 2026, Joshua touched an impressive rapid peak of 2550 (2026-06-06), a clear signal that his Candidate Master badge is only the beginning of the story.
A Repertoire Built on Bold Choices
Joshua's opening choices are a mix of classical backbone and unapologetic spice. As Black, he gravitates toward the Scandinavian Defense with remarkable loyalty, facing down 1.e4 with ...d5 in hundreds of games across all time controls. His handling of the Scandinavian has produced one of his most reliable scoring weapons against higher-rated opposition.
As White, he frequently unleashes the Amazon Attack, an aggressive and unconventional system that has become something of a signature. He also shows serious respect for the Dutch Defense when sitting on the black side, using the sharp ...f5 setup to steer games into unbalanced middlegames.
offers a window into his favorite battlegrounds, with the Scandinavian, Amazon Attack, Dutch, and Caro-Kann all featuring heavily in his match history.Volume, Streaks, and Rivalries
Very few players can match Joshua's appetite for games. His most frequent online rival is coffeelover4, against whom he has played a remarkable 78 games. That rivalry has been largely one-sided in Joshua's favor, a testament to his ability to grind down familiar opponents. A second recurring foe, shoot-review, has also felt the full force of his attacking play across dozens of meetings.
His competitive fire shows up in the numbers: a longest winning streak of 14 games and a longest losing streak of 14 games. The symmetry is fitting for a player who lives on the edge, but his comeback rate of nearly 85 percent reveals the true fighter underneath.
is the kind of Scandinavian line Joshua handles with confidence, keeping the queen active while developing quickly.Night Owl Tactician
Joshua is at his sharpest in the evening, with his best results arriving around 19:00, and he has a habit of delivering checkmate after grabbing the initiative. His statistics show a noticeably higher win rate when he lands the first check of the game, underlining an aggressive, initiative-first mindset. He also plays some of his best chess against higher-rated opponents, punching above his weight with a winning percentage that has made him a feared underdog.
One of his most memorable recent battles can be revisited here: View Game. For a Candidate Master with his engine-like volume and fearless opening choices, Joshua (Haojia) Liu is a name worth tracking in every online arena.