Joshua Grabinsky: The MateSchmate of the Bullet Board
Joshua Grabinsky, known online as MateSchmate, is a National Master who treats the chess clock like a friendly dare. While he has earned titles and respectable results across every time control, his true kingdom is the bullet board, where he has fired off thousands of games at lightning speed. His username says it all: he is always hunting for the mate, and he is happy to make you his schmate along the way.
Built for Bullet
Grabinsky's bullet career is a study in sheer volume and velocity. He has played more than 5,500 rated bullet games on record, with a peak 2702 (2021-07-02) rating that places him in rare company. His longest winning streak of 24 games, a streak he still carries into every new session, proves he is not just fast. He is consistently dangerous.
While his blitz rating also reached 2650 and his rapid game climbed past 2400, Joshua's heart belongs to the quickest format. His bullet results are the closest thing a National Master can have to a superpower.
A Repertoire Full of Personality
Ask anyone who has faced MateSchmate what they remember, and chances are they will mention the Nimzo-Larsen Attack. He has played the flank opening 1.b3 nearly a thousand times in bullet, turning the so-called quietest opening on the board into a weapon of mass premove. He is equally at home with the Amar Gambit and the French Defense, and his blitz results with the Scotch Game show a player who trusts his pieces in open positions.
A typical MateSchmate opening can look like this, a little b3, a little cheek:
Faces in the Crowd
With thousands of games comes a row of familiar rivals. No one has faced MateSchmate more often than Owen McCoy, a 101-game rivalry that has become a constant of his online career. Another frequent adversary is theeyeoftimaeus, who has actually gotten the better of their series, a rare sight for a player with Grabinsky's clutch stats.
Also in the mix are bm_on_icc, leobispo83, and karatebaby, all part of the rotating cast that keeps the bullet queue interesting.
The Comeback Kid
Grabinsky's profile screams resilience. His comeback rate of nearly 89 percent suggests that even when the position looks gone, MateSchmate has not read the obituary. He wins more than 44 percent of games even after losing a piece, a terrifying stat for any opponent who thinks they have won the exchange.
His tilt factor of 11 is remarkably low for a bullet junkie, and his best hour is 8:00 in the morning, when his win rate has touched perfection. Perhaps the secret is a clear head and a fresh cup of coffee.