Sphinxy9: The Sphinx Who Actually Gives Answers
Sphinxy9 (known at the board as Sphinxy-9) is an online chess grinder whose preferred arena is blitz chess, where riddles must be solved in three minutes or less. The legend has already pushed a blitz rating to 2417 (2025-11-13) and a bullet rating to 2446 (2025-11-13), which is frankly rude for someone who only started climbing in late 2023.
What separates Sphinxy9 from the average time-scramble merchant is stubbornness. Nearly 73% of games reach an endgame, average wins stretch past 70 moves, and the comeback rate sits at a jaw-dropping 88%. Early resignation happens in under 1% of games. If a Sphinxy9 piece gets trapped, it simply haunts the position until you blunder.
From 610 to the Stratosphere
In December 2023, Sphinxy9 debuted at a humble 610 blitz and casually won all ten games. By February 2024 the rating had more than tripled, and by November 2025 the sphinx was growling above 2400. Some players take years to make that journey; Sphinxy9 apparently just asked the rating system a riddle it could not answer.
The Repertoire: Comfort Food and Chaos
Sphinxy9 plays a delightfully defiant set of openings, favoring structures that opponents prepared for exactly never:
- Caro-Kann Defense: the workhorse, with a healthy 55% win rate over 200 blitz games.
- Scandinavian Defense: over 240 blitz games, winning 55.8% of the time while early queens roam free.
- Amazon Attack: for when the opponent deserves psychological damage.
- Amar Gambit: an opening that sounds like a typo but is, tragically for its victims, legal chess.
- Bird Opening, Dutch Variation, Batavo Gambit: because 1.e4 is for people who want balance in their lives.
For a deeper look at which lines pay the bills, see the win-rate breakdown below.
Rivalry Report
No sphinx is complete without quarry. Sam Milby has been dragged into 119 games and stands at 74 losses against Sphinxy9's 45 wins, a relationship that can only be described as "web-shaped". Meanwhile, Benoit Saint-Denis holds a winning edge over 92 games, proving that even mythical beasts occasionally meet their zookeeper.
Fun Facts and Folderol
- Longest winning streak: 19 games. Longest losing streak: 13, quickly avenged.
- The queen is the most common checking piece, deployed over 9,000 times. Subtlety is a choice.
- Win rate is nearly identical with both colors, around 53% each. Fairness achieved through brute force.
- Peak performance window is around 14:00, where wins hit 61%. Games before 9:00 are best described as "voluntary charity".
- Over 1,300 checkmates delivered, plus roughly 1,700 wins on time. The clock fears the sphinx.
- One-sided losses occur in just 1.5% of games, so if Sphinxy9 is losing, at least the spectators get a show.
Bottom Line
Endlessly patient, allergic to resignation, and armed with a repertoire that weaponizes confusion, Sphinxy9 is the kind of opponent who turns your "easy" win into a 70-move philosophy lecture. Pose the riddle. Wait for the answer. Lose anyway.