Eivind Olav Risting: The FIDE Master Who Grinded His Way to the Top
Meet Eivind Olav Risting
Eivind Olav Risting, known online as ristingho, is a Norwegian FIDE Master who built his reputation one online game at a time. His journey from a 1200 blitz beginner to a 2622 peak rating is one of the most impressive long term climbs you will find. Between 2011 and 2026, he played thousands of rated battles and turned raw enthusiasm into a genuinely dangerous skillset.
A Decade of Climbing
Risting's earliest recorded games in 2011 show a player still searching for a style, with modest ratings across blitz, rapid, and daily chess. The turning points came in waves: he crossed 2000 in blitz around 2016, reached the 2400 zone in 2018, and peaked at an elite 2622 in December 2019. His bullet rating hit a career best of 2559 in early 2021, and his rapid game peaked at 2557 during the spring 2020 online boom.
- 2622 (2019-12-28)
- 2559 (2021-02-09)
- 2557 (2020-04-01)
An Opening Repertoire With Personality
Risting is far from predictable. With the white pieces, he happily reaches the offbeat Nimzo-Larsen Attack and alternate between 1.d4 and 1.b3. With black, he leans on solid structures such as the French Defense, the Caro-Kann Defense, and the aggressive Benko Gambit. He is also one of the rare players who regularly steers games into the Amazon Attack and its Siberian Attack branch. The mix keeps opponents off balance and makes preparation genuinely difficult.
Bullet Heart, Marathon Spirit
His preferred time control is bullet, and the numbers back it up completely. With more than 5,000 bullet games and over 2,700 wins under the ristingho handle, he thrives when the clock is screaming. Yet he also plays with remarkable stubbornness in every format. His early resignation rate sits near one percent, his endgame frequency is around 80 percent, and his comeback rate is a towering 84.7 percent. Even after losing a piece, he keeps winning nearly half the time. Players like that are exhausting to face.
Rivalries, Streaks, and Comebacks
Every long career is shaped by familiar faces. Against Elias Sidali, his most frequent opponent with 140 meetings, Risting is dominant with 114 wins. Against belisarius64 over 101 games, the rivalry is much more balanced and tense. And then there is johansolomon, a personal nemesis who holds a brutal edge in their series. Even the most determined grinder hits lows, and Risting has survived both a 22 game winning streak and a 12 game losing streak. The defining trait is simple: no matter the result, he always clicks play again.