Witty_alien "endless creativity" and the regretful ending

Introduction 1: A relatively unremarkable competitive career that led to fame on chess.com and platforms like Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc.

Introduction 2: A difficult breakup and an unceasing sadness.

Witty_alien is one of the outstanding Grandmaster candidates on the chess.com platform that almost everyone knows.

He has made a strong impression on platforms like YouTube and Twitter with his brilliant chess games, his mistakes, and especially his creative and unconventional playing style, defying any theory. But it is precisely this that has made him famous, with his self-created openings such as the Alien Gambit and the Martin Gambit.

He might be an unknown figure in live chess competitions, but on the chess.com platform, he's one of those who can be called an inspiration to all of us, showing that when playing chess, the result is less important than creating a beautiful game.

My real purpose in writing this is to commemorate him after he announced his retirement from chess for personal reasons. And don't miss it!

And as usual, let's learn more about him.

1. A PROFESSIONAL CHESS CAREER ONLINE

witty_alien, whose real name is volen Dyulgerov, is a Grandmaster candidate born in 1999 with Bulgarian citizenship.

His competitive career didn't generate much buzz or attention. Even before playing on chess.com, people just considered him an average player with no prospects.

In addition, he also worked in the IT industry to make a living. After more than a year in this job, he started to feel bored and seemed to be experiencing emotional and mental depression. So, he returned to playing chess, but mainly through the chess.com platform, along with YouTube and live streaming chess content, which created a turning point that completely changed his life.

With his spontaneous and creative attacking style, disregarding any chess rules, he achieved rare victories on chess.com with masterpieces known as imortals. This is what made him extremely prominent on chess.com.

He attracts a large audience in many different countries, spreading the passion for chess to everyone. Playing chess with heart and emotion, combining emotion and inspiration to create a better game is more important than defensive play and a solid strategy.

A much more daring style than Mikhail Tal's, but he created a series of spectacular sacrifices despite occasional mistakes. The similarity lies in his penchant for risky play and high-risk tolerance, much like the wizard Riga. This contributes to the creation of a new Mikhail Tal with a modern and passionate style.

That is also his most outstanding quality, earning him immense admiration and affection from the audience. Furthermore, his frequent participation in the blitz chess genre has become a nightmare for many opponents. Even when facing grandmasters or international masters of higher skill levels, they are like lost souls in a fog. And behind that fog lurks dangers silently attacking and imprisoning them in helplessness. This is because his disruptive skills are effective in a short, bullet-like manner, leaving little time for calculation. On the other hand, with unexpected, novel attacks and a masterful ability to foresee sacrifices, opponents can only struggle in despair.

From 2023 to 2025 is a long two-year period, but he has achieved many things that many others might not be able to do.

First of all, beating Daniel Naroditsky is no easy task. Daniel is one of the top blitz and rapid chess players on the chess.com platform. And with a real-world Elo rating of over 2600, that's a huge gap compared to Witty_alien.

However, the earthquake occurred, causing Daniel to regret losing two games to witty_alien—how admirable, right?

Despite losing many times, he still deserves to be recognized as a top bullet master.

Many might say, "Maybe it was just luck." It's true that many might think so, but it wasn't just the victory against Daniel, but many other matches that left a very strong impression.

He almost defeated Hikaru; Hikaru Nakamura's strength is undeniable, but it's very difficult for CM to force Hikaru to sacrifice his queen.

https://youtu.be/JprzE0cUKSk?si=d1ecFsaxwEacjOET

This is his match, which you can watch on the tungjohn playing chess channel to follow the game.

And is that enough to confirm it? It's strange, but this match proved it. His skill and technique are truly impressive, but to say he's as strong as Hikaru is impossible.

Because a chess player's true skill level can only be clearly seen when playing standard chess in person, but online chess has many problems such as weak network connection, time constraints, speed, etc.

In addition, he's had a lot of great matches against players with an Elo rating of 3000. And I think, given his popularity, you've probably seen them all already, right?

And that's a brief summary of his career. If there are any inaccuracies, please forgive me and feel free to share your feedback so I can improve. 

2. THE IMPACT OF HIS STYLE ON OTHER PLAYERS

This is something I think everyone can make mistakes about. But don't worry, I'll analyze it and draw conclusions so that if you make the mistake, you can improve. 

witty_alien also frequently uses knights to move around the board. Along with reckless pawn pushes and crazy post-attack moves, the main aim is to disrupt and exploit opponent mistakes.

While this might seem clever and innovative, it's a fatal mistake for anyone who tries to imitate him. His playing style is fundamentally flawed in theory and violates many chess principles. He only uses it effectively because he plays lightning-fast blitz chess, where time is of the essence and there's little time for calculation. Therefore, his opponents can't decipher this code, leading to time pressure and a quick defeat.

The nature of this move is born from the emotion and inspiration of playing chess. Many mistakenly believe this is a style of play worth learning, and therefore believe it will involve many clever and beautiful sacrifices. However, the drawback is that you cannot correct your mistakes. Your opponent will make you pay the price if they play correctly. This game will be improvisational; why? Improvisation is a style of play that can be called foolish when you play a caressing move without a specific, logical plan. These are just temporary attacks, and gradually you fall into a stalemate as each piece is in a different position, thus you get stuck. Ultimately, when your game becomes chaotic, the pieces are scattered and unconnected. At the same time, your opponent will have many options to attack you by taking advantage of that fragmentation; your opponent will certainly exploit many weaknesses in your game. And in doing so, it only gives your opponent more diverse options for applying pressure.

It would be extremely dangerous, so no matter what level you are, you must follow chess theory!  
3. THE DARK SIDE OF A CHESS CANDIDATE

Although he is very famous for many great games, there is a sad story behind it all.

witty_alien shared this after two years:

He was overworked and suffered serious health problems, specifically: every day he played online chess on chess.com for about 24 hours and live-streamed for up to 30 hours, a tremendous amount for an average person to endure, right? So, his health deteriorated. He frequently experienced dizziness and migraines, and it was heartbreaking that he did all this alone, playing online chess every day. He
also didn't have enough money to live on because his online income was too low. 
He also shared that he didn't know if that was true, but he said he did very well at everything from playing chess to doing YouTube, and that was enough for him to stop and end it.
I'm not sure if my translation of his last post is accurate, but you can find out for sure through the posts on his channel! 
4. THE END OF A GREAT JOURNEY

After experiencing health problems and other issues, he decided to end his epic journey.

A place he was very proud of and honored to be in. Its end is something that many of his fans deeply regret.

This marks the end of a burning passion for chess. In my opinion, he deserves to be considered one of the greatest players on chess.com, and I hope he recovers soon and one day returns to pursue his passion.

A long journey ends with regret, but thank you for your dedication and for playing chess so profoundly.

And finally, thank you all for taking the time to watch  and don't forget to leave a message to encourage and support witty_alien! 
Below is his latest video and you can click and watch it.

                                   THANKS A LOT