Ray Robson, aka spicycaterpillar: The Bullet Chess Grandmaster
Emergence From the Cocoon
Ray Robson, known across the online chess world as spicycaterpillar, picked the perfect username: unassuming, slightly absurd, and then suddenly on fire. A certified FIDE Grandmaster, Ray first crawled onto the server in December 2018 and has been molting rating points ever since, clawing his way to the top of the Bullet chess food chain with more than 6,400 bullet wins while opponent clocks expired with quiet dignity.
The Bullet Machine
Bullet is where Ray lives, eats, and occasionally schedules his naps. His peak of 3269 (2026-09-21) did not arrive by accident; it arrived through thousands of one-minute battles played with the confidence of a man who believes sixty seconds is enough time to think, double-check, and apologize. The full glow-up is documented here:
Games that last longer than a minute? Ray reportedly treats those as correspondence chess with extra steps.
An Opening Repertoire With Hot Sauce
Ray's opening book reads like a dare. His signature is the Amar Gambit, the audacious 1.Nh3 adventure he has played well over 1,300 times with a winning score:
When he feels like being respectable, he reaches for the trustworthy Caro-Kann Defense (over 300 blitz games, a 60 percent score) or the Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. He also answers 1.e4 with the Barnes Defense and the Australian Defense, two openings your engine may want to file under "crimes." They work for him, which is the infuriating part.
Rivals and One Very Familiar Face
No player has crossed swords with Ray more than Daniel Naroditsky, with a colossal 1,538 meetings on record. Naroditsky leads the series by a healthy margin, and Ray keeps queuing him anyway, which at this point is less a rivalry and more a long-term research project. For contrast, Alexander Rustemov has absorbed 754 games and Ray's most lopsided positive record: 462 wins against just 154 losses. Every caterpillar needs a leaf it can trust.
Feeling nostalgic? Relive a chapter of the saga: View Game
How He Fights
Ray's early resignation rate is a microscopic 0.46 percent, which explains why roughly 81 percent of his games reach an endgame. He does not lose positions; he sublets them and moves back in later. He wins more than half of his games even after dropping a whole piece, once rode a 46-game winning streak, and has also endured a 54-game losing streak, proving he is emotionally available in both directions.
His favorite way to harass a king is the queen check, deployed nearly 19,000 times across 18,000-plus analyzed games, and his win rate peaks in the early afternoon around 14:00. Challenge him before lunch if you are emotionally attached to hope.
Spicy Facts
- Longest winning streak: 46 games. Longest losing streak: 54. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.
- Over 6,400 bullet wins and nearly 3,900 blitz wins and counting.
- Wins 57 percent of his games even after losing a piece.
- Most dangerous on Tuesdays, where the win rate crests above 61 percent.
- Also dabbles in a Colle line codenamed after a pterosaur, because apparently normal names are for other people.
The Bottom Line
For fans of speed chess, bullet chess, and grandmaster-level online chess, the spicycaterpillar profile is well worth following. He is living proof that a GM title, a fearless opening book, and an absolute refusal to resign can turn the smallest time control into a personal playground. Challenge him at your own risk, and maybe bring a snack for after lunch.