Yoseph Theolifus Taher: International Master of the Blink
Yoseph Theolifus Taher, known online as yosephtaher, is an International Master who decided at some point that slow chess was optional. Since first appearing on the site in 2011, he has logged roughly 25,000 rated games, the overwhelming majority of them in bullet, and climbed from a modest 1200 newcomer to a speed chess force with a peak bullet rating of 3239 (2026-06-22). If chess at one minute per side were an Olympic sport, Yoseph would already have his own wax figure.
Bullet Is Not a Phase, It Is a Lifestyle
Over 12,600 bullet wins tell the story better than words can. Yoseph's rating curve from 2011 to today is one of the great slow-cooked recipes in online chess, fifteen years of pre-moves, flag attempts, and nerve:
Somewhere along the way he ripped off a 74 game winning streak, a run long enough that opponents started whispering about a second Yoseph. His longest losing streak, 20 games, merely confirmed he is human, although barely, and only on weekdays.
Openings, Weapons, and the Mysterious Unknown
As White, his heart belongs to the Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense, an opening he has played hundreds of times at a win rate approaching 88 percent. The pitch is simple: offer a pawn, then collect pieces as interest. A taste of the classic line:
With the black pieces he flaps and hisses with the Modern Defense: Pterodactyl Variation, grinds it out in the Caro-Kann Defense, and has scored nearly 79 percent over more than 1,200 bullet games with the Scandinavian Defense. But his most successful bullet weapon is officially listed as Unknown, with a win rate north of 92 percent, which strongly suggests the database took one look at the first ten moves and gave up.
The Daily Chess Confession
Every hero has a weakness. For Yoseph it is chess that lasts longer than a coffee order. His daily record reads 8 wins, 46 losses, and zero draws, and in July 2012 his daily rating sagged all the way to 819, a number that would be a great bullet rating and a genuinely tragic long game one. Given a choice between thinking for ten minutes and pre-moving a knight, Yoseph chooses the knight. Every time. It has worked out.
Nemeses, Frenemies, and Occasional Victims
No bullet legend is complete without a rogues gallery. Renato Terry has squared off with Yoseph 383 times and leads the rivalry 226 wins to 111, making it the single most profitable matchup in the yosephtaher experience. Oleksandr Bortnyk has stacked 204 wins across 325 meetings, and Daniel Naroditsky, who needs no introduction but gets one anyway, has taken 166 of their 240 clashes. In fairness, these are elite speed chess specialists; losing to them is like losing a sprint to a cheetah.
On the happier side of the ledger, Yoseph holds dominant winning records against Volen Dyulgerov (132 to 47) and Emin Ohanyan (92 to 41), proof that the cheetahs do not own the entire savanna.
Style, Habits, and Superstitions
- Comeback artist: he wins 84 percent of games after fighting back from a losing position, and still wins over 70 percent even after dropping a whole piece.
- He resigns early in under 2 percent of his games. Losing is temporary; pre-moving is forever.
- The queen is his favorite checking piece, and he converts roughly 80 percent of games where he delivers the first check.
- Sundays are sacred, with a win rate near 87 percent, and his peak hour is 2 in the afternoon. Monday is statistically his day of penance.
- His wins average about 68 moves while his losses stretch to 80, a poetic way of saying the sooner the tactics start, the better.
The Verdict
With an FIDE International Master title, a bullet rating that brushes 3200, a blitz peak of 3218, and a filing cabinet full of Pterodactyls, Yoseph Theolifus Taher makes speed chess look effortless right up until you try it yourself. Challenge him if you must, but ideally do it on a Monday, and bring a clock you do not care about.