Nguyen Tung Quan, a.k.a. SicilianModern
Nguyen Tung Quan plays online chess under the handle SicilianModern, which is a perfectly respectable name for a chess player, apart from one small detail: his signature first move as White is 1.d4, and the Sicilian Defense only shows up to justify the username occasionally. There is a Modern Defense hiding in the repertoire at exactly a 50 percent win rate, so the name is at least half true.
In one whirlwind year, Quan climbed from casual club territory to a Rapid peak of 2423, flirting with 2681 in Bullet along the way. That is the kind of improvement curve that makes other players check their own accounts for a bug.
The Rapid Specialist
Rapid chess is where Quan is most dangerous: 111 wins against 50 losses and 18 draws, with a strength-adjusted win rate north of 63 percent, comfortably his best time control. His wins average nearly 90 moves, and he reaches the endgame in roughly 85 percent of his games, so if you are hoping for a quick night out, bring dinner.
Openings: An Identity Crisis in Three Time Controls
As White, Quan opens 1.d4 in the overwhelming majority of games, with the London System, Poisoned Pawn Variation as his pet weapon, going 7 wins and 3 losses in Rapid play. He has also logged serious mileage in the Australian Defense, the Döry Defense, the Amazon Attack: Siberian Attack (69.7 percent in Blitz with zero draws), and the delightfully named Colle, Rhamphorhynchus Variation, which sounds less like an opening and more like a pterodactyl with a mortgage.
As Black he shape-shifts: the Scandinavian Defense and Caro-Kann do the heavy lifting in Bullet, while in Rapid the Sicilian finally earns its keep at 60 percent, including a 66 percent mark in the Najdorf. Meanwhile, in Daily chess he is nearly unbeatable: 7 wins, 0 losses, 1 draw, proof that giving him a whole day to think was a mistake.
His signature skirmish, the Poisoned Pawn of the London System:
The Nemesis Files
Every grinder has a ghost, and Quan's is owennguyen2015. They have clashed 106 times, with Quan at 27 wins, 75 losses and 4 draws. That is not a rivalry, that is a subscription, and to his credit he keeps renewing it.
hoanson123 is a different problem entirely: 16 wins, 5 losses and 12 draws in 33 games, a man who simply will not be beaten. Then there is dni-no1, the designated thank-you: Quan is 9-0-5 against him and presumably sends a small gratitude note every time the pairing pops up.
Style, Quirks, and the 5 PM Razor
The numbers paint a portrait of a stubborn, clock-hungry fighter:
- Comeback rate of 88.1 percent, and after dropping a piece he still wins nearly half the time.
- Longest winning streak: 21 games. Longest losing streak: 67. Somewhere inside that run of 67 there is a hostage situation.
- 873 career wins by timeout, the mark of a player who treats the clock as a second army.
- Peak form hits at 5 PM, a terrifying 76.5 percent win rate. Mondays are for conquering; Tuesdays are best spent watching film.
- He gets checked more often than he checks, 3.68 to 2.74 per game, and still wins anyway, usually with the queen.
Whether he is brawling in the Bullet trenches at 2600 strength or steering a slow Rapid grind past 2400, the pattern holds: SicilianModern does not do quiet exits. His early resignation rate is under 4 percent, the username may be misleading, but the fight never is.