Shiki_chess: The FIDE Master on the Night Shift
Shiki_chess is a FIDE Master who does most of the damage while the rest of the world is asleep. Since first appearing online in June 2021 with a rating in the 1300s, Shiki has ground through thousands of games in Rapid, the preferred time control, plus hearty servings of blitz and bullet, climbing all the way to a peak blitz rating of 2749 (2025-12-30). The title says master. The 2 AM win rate says something far more sinister.
The Rise: From Four Digits to Full FM Chaos
The early months were a pure sprint: within a year of the very first game, every pool had roughly doubled. The real fireworks arrived in late 2025, when the blitz rating rocketed from the mid-2500s to 2749 in about two months, powered by a 19-game winning streak and a tilt resistance that registers at a laughable 10. Bullet topped out at 2539, and the Rapid ledger is a monster: 54 wins against just 20 losses and 3 draws.
The Repertoire: Czech, Please
Queue up against Shiki as Black and you will almost certainly meet the Czech Defense, a stubborn pawn wall that has now defended the black side more than 400 times, flanked by the ever-faithful Philidor Defense and the slippery Modern Defense. Behold the wall:
As White, the menu gets eccentric: oceans of 1.Nf3, the King's Indian Attack, the rarely seen Wiedenhagen-Beta Gambit, and a Colle System line whose full name appears to be part classified document, part pterosaur. Opponents attempting the Amar Gambit against Shiki have mostly been fed their own gambit back. The complete recipe book:
Rivals and One Boogeyman
Every hero needs a foil, and amaori_renako is it: 32 grudge matches and counting, with Shiki trailing 13-18-1 and clearly refusing to quit until the ledger evens out. sandesh5, meanwhile, exists to make Shiki feel like a supercomputer at 9-0-1. Then there is Ryosuke Nanjo, against whom the script flips to 1-8, living proof that even titled players have a nemesis.
Quirks, Habits, and Other Confessions
- Peak performance window: 2 AM, with a win rate near 69%. At 8 PM it sags to 41%. Do not schedule matches after dinner.
- Friday is the strongest day (58.9% wins), Wednesday the weakest (47.9%). The workweek remains undefeated.
- Shiki resigns early in roughly half of all games, yet comes back to win 84% of games when things go wrong. The secret seems to be knowing which half you are in.
- One-sided losses occur just 1.4% of the time: Shiki does not get blown off the board, only politely outplayed.
- The endgame appears in about 75% of games, and the first capture waits until move eight on average. Patience is a weapon here.
- Over 2,400 queen checks delivered. The queen is not a piece, it is a megaphone.
- The Daily chess career consists of exactly one game, a loss in a Najdorf. Undefeated would be a stretch.
Final Word
If you spot Shiki_chess online after midnight, Rapid clock ticking, black pieces already committed to d6, consider yourself warned. The FM title is earned, the Czech wall is real, and the grudge match list keeps growing. Bring coffee. Better yet, bring a boogeyman of your own.