About Hedgehogtheking: A Woman International Master in Spiky Armor
Hedgehogtheking is a FIDE-titled Woman International Master (WIM) whose online chess career began in October 2024, and who has spent the time since making the rating pool very sorry about it. The username promises a hedgehog wearing a crown, and the chess matches the branding: quiet, round, and extremely uncomfortable to attack. Underneath the cuteness beats the heart of a marathon runner, because her games routinely march past move 70 and somehow still end with her on the right side of the score.
Rapid Chess: The Official Favorite
Ask the record books and they insist Rapid is her preferred time control, and honestly the sample is hard to argue with: 55 wins against just 7 losses and 6 draws, plus a flawless 5-0 run as White in the Anti-Sveshnikov Sicilian. The
traces a climb from the low 2000s to a peak of 2429 (2026-05-17) in well under two years. The only wrinkle is that she has also logged roughly 5,000 bullet and blitz games, so "Rapid player" is a label she holds onto the way a hedgehog holds a leaf: firmly, and for reasons known only to the hedgehog.Bullet Chess and Blitz Chess Chaos
Then there is the rest of the schedule. In bullet she charged all the way to 2717 (2026-05-15), and in blitz she reached a frankly silly 2834 (2026-05-25), starting from 1768 in late 2024. Career highlights include:
- An 18-game winning streak, the kind that gets mentioned in group chats with disbelief.
- An 88.92% comeback rate: when trouble arrives, she curls into a ball and then uncurls swinging.
- A one-sided loss rate under 1%, meaning opponents rarely beat her so much as survive her.
- The queen as her most frequent checking piece, because diplomacy is for other players.
- Peak danger hour: 18:00, presumably after the hedgehog has eaten.
Opening Repertoire: Quills and Old Traps
With White she opens 1.e4 the overwhelming majority of the time and scores over 60% against the Caro-Kann Defense, while greeting the Sicilian Defense with the trusty Chekhover Variation. With Black she gets gloriously eccentric: the Amar Gambit has appeared on her scoresheet more than 200 times in bullet, the Alekhine Defense wins about two games in three, and the Blackburne Shilling Gambit, chess's oldest "please take the e5 pawn, I insist" trap, has been deployed 60 times for a plus score. A taste of the mischief:
The Nemesis Ledger
Every great hedgehog has a natural predator, and hers is Alex Villa Tornero, who leads their head-to-head 15-2 across 17 meetings. Analysts suspect long-handled gloves are involved. On the friendlier side of the ledger sits ugetting, a charitable 8-1 in her favor, while balkandadchess (5-4) and Yuri Korsunsky (4-4) supply the coin-flip drama every chess bio needs.
Style, Stats, and Hedgehog Wisdom
Statistically speaking, she is a grinder: over 82% of her games reach a proper endgame, wins average 76 moves, and the tilt factor sits at a zen-like 10. She wins two-thirds of her games against lower-rated opposition and nearly 60% against equals, and in casual play the win rate jumps by roughly 45 percentage points, which suggests the spines come fully out when nothing is at stake. Whether she is firing off bullet moves at midnight or strolling through a Rapid game after dinner, the message to opponents is the same: approach with care, and maybe bring a towel.