Kobe Smeets: KoningKobe, Bullet Chess Royalty
In Dutch, koning means king, so the username KoningKobe was never exactly humble. Kobe Smeets has spent nearly a decade making it accurate. A FIDE Master and one of the most persistent grinders in online bullet chess, Kobe has played more than 13,500 games, climbed from a four-digit rating all the way into the 2700s, and done it all with a straight face and a suspiciously fast mouse finger.
The Long Climb: From 1300 to the 2700s
Kobe first surfaced in the summer of 2016 as a modest blitz player, briefly dipped under 1000 that autumn, and then simply refused to stop. The graph since then reads like a mountainside: past 1800 by late 2018, past 2000 early in 2020, past 2300 in 2023, and into the 2700s by 2026. Ten years of patient, ruthless volume.
Bullet Is Home Turf
With a peak bullet rating of 2751 (2026-03-31), bullet is clearly where KoningKobe feels most kingly. He has logged over 4,500 bullet games, and his most-played weapon in that arena is the gloriously dubious Amar Gambit, the line that opens with 1.Nh3 and dares you to object. The Nimzo-Larsen Attack rounds out the exotic menu, along with a Colle setup featuring a Rhamphorhynchus Variation, an opening apparently named after a pterosaur, which feels appropriate for something that keeps swooping in uninvited.
His performance data says his most dominant hour is 4 a.m., where his win rate touches a statistically terrifying 100% on a small but flawless sample. Opponents hoping for an upset are politely advised not to schedule it at breakfast.
The Serious Repertoire
For all the weirdness in bullet, his classical tastes are respectable. The Sicilian Defense anchors his black repertoire across hundreds of games, with the Najdorf Variation as the flagship, and the French Defense as the trusty backup, winning over 61% of his rapid games. He is also a startling 81% against the Bird Opening: Dutch Variation, Batavo Gambit, an opening whose name is longer than some of his time controls.
Rivals, Relatives, and One Scary IM
Every grinder has a rogues' gallery. stuiter03 is his most frequent sparring partner with 105 games, though Kobe leads the series 59-38. joepsmeets shares his surname and, judging by the 55-5 head-to-head, possibly the family chess genes, which must make the holidays lively. Then there is Arthur De Winter, an International Master who has beaten Kobe 28 times against just 2 losses, humbling proof that every king eventually meets an emperor.
Playing Style: The Comeback Grinder
Kobe does not do quiet exits. His early resignation rate is a defiant 1.35%, and his comeback rate sits at a monstrous 85.79%, meaning dropping a piece barely dents his win chances. Games run long, the endgame appears in over 77% of his encounters, and his average win stretches past 75 moves. Give him an inch of counterplay and he will take a mile, one accurate move at a time, with a tilt factor of just 13.
KoningKobe Quick Facts
- Longest winning streak: 16 games, occasionally interrupted by a 13-game humbling.
- Favorite checking piece: the queen, deployed more than 11,600 times.
- First capture usually lands around move 7, because manners matter.
- Monday is his most winning weekday, which is genuinely impressive.
- He wins roughly half of his games even after losing a piece.
Whether he is grinding a Najdorf at midnight or wheeling out the Amar Gambit before sunrise, KoningKobe plays chess the way his username promised: royally, relentlessly, and always up for one more game.