Richard Yi NM

A Pi-Sized Appetite for Chess

Meet Richard Yi, a National Master who answers to r31415. The username is basically pi with a chessboard attached, and Richard has spent years proving that online chess is an infinite game. He arrived in 2011, started on Daily chess at 1477, and closed his first month at 1786 after winning 17 of 18 games. It was an early sign: when Richard Yi sits down, the rating graph tends to move.

Bullet and Blitz Brawler

Richard's natural habitat is Bullet. The clock is not his enemy, it is his copilot. He has pushed his bullet rating to 2654 (2022-12-07) 2654, and his blitz rating to 2749 (2022-03-30) 2749.

captures the long grind from the low 2000s into the 2700s. The busiest stretch came in 2022, when he regularly logged more than 500 games a month and sometimes passed 1,000 games in a single month. He also found time to reach 2529 (2020-11-30) 2529 in rapid and 1991 (2014-01-30) 1991 in daily, just to prove he can slow down when he wants to.

A Repertoire Built on Volume

Richard is a creature of habit with eclectic taste. As Black he has played the Czech Defense more than 1,500 times in blitz, and the Caro-Kann Defense nearly 900 times. He regularly walks into the Ruy Lopez Berlin Defense and enjoys sharp tries like the Blackburne Shilling Gambit. With White he has championed the Sicilian Defense, especially the Najdorf Variation, and in later years embraced 1.d4 systems such as the Nimzo-Indian Defense. His average decisive game runs about 79 moves, and 82 percent of his games reach an endgame. He simply outlasts people.

Rivalries That Define a Career

A player of Richard's volume inevitably collects rivals. His most frequent opponent is Beilin Li, with 349 meetings and Richard leading 195 to 140. Tiago Pereira Rodrigues has been nearly unstoppable, holding a narrow 107 to 103 edge. Rogelio Jr Antonio is the true nemesis, leading 121 to 66. He has also battled ernestoguevaralynch 178 times and aliencowboy 173 times. Through every streak and slump, Richard keeps queueing up.

The Comeback King

Richard's rating may wobble, but his heart does not. His comeback rate is 85.49 percent, and he still wins 43.75 percent of games after losing a piece. He once strung together 22 wins, and he is currently on a 10 game winning streak. The dark side includes a 15 game losing streak, but even that could not stop him. His 89,653 checks are mostly delivered by rooks, and his games often end with the opponent low on time rather than checkmated. Some players aim for brilliant mates; Richard aims for your clock.

Fast Facts

• National Master title earned from National.
• Preferred time control: Bullet.
• Longest winning streak: 22 games.
• Longest losing streak: 15 games.
• Most played opening: Czech Defense.
• Most played opponent: blitzcopter with 349 games.