Rey Enigma: Mistery Under The Mask

One of the most notable novelties of chess in Spain is the appearance of a player whose alias is Rey Enigma . Little is known about him, except that he is under 40 years old and works in the advertising industry. He hides behind a checkered suit and also tricks his voice so that he cannot be recognized.

Living in the modern era, to stand out in the crowd, Rey Enigma decided to go on social media. He streams on Twitch, but of course with his fake voice so noone can know his real voice. In addition to that he also posts Youtube videos and teches people how to play chess.

His first viral video that gave him so much recognition and fame is the video where he went to the Retiro Park in Madrid, and played random people, giving them a chance to win 100€ if they beat him. This is pretty much unheard of, and it just shows the dedication, and hard work he puts into this content. He said in one interview that he played since he was 5 years old, so besides the talent there must be a tone of work.

After starting his career online, Rey Enigma decided to take his talents to the television in hopes of growing his audience and fame. The biggest event of his career by far was going to Spain Got Talent where he decided to put on a show every round, up until the finals. In Europe, chess is being appreciated so much that his act was very well accepted. 

Keep in mind, he did not just sat at the table and played some chess. Instead he gave his opponents time odds during the show, he played blindfolded, he memorized multiple boards in certain position and played on from one...

He truly came prepared, ready to put on a show, even playing against a jury member. But in the finals, the jury decided that it is time for them to have a surprise for Rey Enigma. He showed up at the finals, thinking he will play again against a jury member or maybe multiple people at the same time, but he was wrong. Out of nowhere, on stage comes a former World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov. Nobody expected that, esspecially Rey.

Anatoly Karpov sits at the table, ready to play a 3 minute game of blitz with no increment. Game started and right out the gate, Rey played really solid. Karpov held on to his positional advantage and keeping a tempo up on Rey. However, Rey had one crucial moment that could have won him the game and it was rook to e3, attacking the queen and the rook behind the queen. If he had played that, Karpov would have had to give up the queen for a rook in order to survive and not get checkmated. 

Insted, Rey missed that move, exchaged the queens, and got into a endgame, where experienced Karpov dominated. First, Anatoly Karpov trapped his rook, and then took all of his pawns. Rey gave up the remaining bishop, in order to make a draw by moving fast and leaving Karpov with no time.

Ultimately, that is what happened. Karpov ran out of time, and could not finish the game, which meant is was a draw by no time vs material insufficient. He survived a game against a former World Chess Champion, and it was a great moment on television.

At the end, we can all hope that he continues to do what he is doing for chess community, and who knows, maybe he will reveal his identity one day.