Diego, Alias Publicano: The Tax Collector of the Chessboard
Some players collect trophies. Diego, who played online under the handle Publicano, Spanish for tax collector, collected wins instead: 3,508 of them across 6,283 recorded games between May 2013 and August 2023. Whether the name referred to auditing incomes or pulling pints at a pub, one thing was certain: anyone who sat down across the board left poorer in pawns and richer in respect. His preferred time control was Rapid, where the strength-adjusted win rate topped 71% and the peak reached 1943 (2022-01-18).
- Preferred time control: Rapid
- Signature weapon: the Sicilian Defense, at a 77% daily win rate as Black
- Most feared hour: 4 AM, with a 78% win rate
- Early resignation rate: 6.89%, which is to say, almost never
The Great Climb
Publicano's first recorded daily game arrived in May 2013: one win, one rating of 1346. The audit escalated quickly. Fifteen wins in nineteen games in June, another leap in July, and by October 2013 the monthly ledger read 40 wins, 2 losses and 3 draws. The 2000 barrier fell that same month, and the climb continued until the peak of 2203 (2016-07-10) in July 2016, roughly 850 points above the starting line. Side expeditions into blitz and bullet peaked respectably along the way, but daily and Rapid chess were always the main trade.
The Repertoire: Sicilian First, Questions Later
As Black, the Sicilian Defense was less an opening and more a home address: 141 daily games at a 77% win rate, with the Najdorf Variation supplying another 152 rounds of main line warfare. As White, the London System and its poisoned pawn tricks delivered a steady 68.57%, the Czech Defense hit 80%, and the Australian Defense produced one of the strangest stat lines in amateur chess: 64 wins, 1 loss and 3 draws in 68 daily games.
- Sicilian Defense as Black: 77% win rate, the crown jewel
- Najdorf Variation: 152 daily games of main line combat
- Czech Defense: 80% daily win rate
- Australian Defense as White: 64-1-3, an actual robbery
- London System, Poisoned Pawn: the trusty White opener at 68.57%
Here is the Najdorf setup, Publicano's favorite office:
Rivals, Nemesis, and the Draw Machine
No biography of Publicano is complete without the recurring cast. Jan van Mechelen appeared 65 times, less an opponent than a chess marriage: 28 wins, 15 losses and 22 draws. Erik Abu Kurt Mohlin was the great wall, 33 meetings producing 19 draws and only 3 Publicano wins, a rivalry best described as therapeutic. khuri drew 11 of 16, while shskiaei went 0 for 12 with no consolations offered or received. Heiko Kummerow split 30 games down the middle at 10-12-8, proof that some debts take a decade to settle.
The 4 AM Hour of Power
The numbers do not lie: Publicano's best hour was 4 AM, where the win rate soared to 78%. Three in the morning came in at 70%, one in the morning at 76%, and Sunday was the best day of the week at nearly 60%. The neighborhood cats presumably knew him as the man who checked queens before sunrise. Speaking of which, the queen did most of the auditing: 4,297 of his 11,037 delivered checks came from Her Majesty, and when Publicano checked first, the win rate climbed to 66%.
Never Resign, Never File Early
Publicano's early resignation rate of 6.89% is statistician speak for "absolutely not." A comeback rate of 71.89% meant that losing a piece was a scheduling inconvenience, not a verdict: the win rate after dropping material still sat above 51%. The endgame appeared in nearly 63% of his games, and true one-sided beatings were rare at just 7.35% of losses. Curiously, casual games actually went slightly better than rated ones, making Publicano the rare competitor who played best when nothing was officially at stake.
The Streaks: A Perfectly Balanced Ledger
Longest winning streak: 24 games. Longest losing streak: 25. The universe, apparently, insists on symmetry. The official tilt factor sat at a serene 25, though the summer of 2023 tested the calibration: June delivered 3 wins against 37 losses, August closed with 12 straight defeats, and the last recorded streak stood at 15 losses when the account went quiet on August 5, 2023. Even tax collectors have years when the auditors win.
Legacy
Ten years, 6,283 games, 3,508 wins, 1,727 losses, 1,048 draws, and a 4 AM win rate that deserves its own peer reviewed study. Publicano played Rapid chess like a man settling accounts, defended the Sicilian like family property, and refused to resign with the discipline of a monk. Somewhere out there, Jan van Mechelen is probably still waiting for game 66.