Nova Daily - 15 September 2025: 99% Coincidence?

Hi!

99% Coincidence?

Today, something funny happened. I played the following bullet game and scored 99% accuracy. I knew that the game was cool but I didn't expect it to be this good:

On this same day, Rameshbabu Vaishali managed to obtain first place in the FIDE Grand Swiss with a draw against Tan Zhongyi, which was enough because her rivals also drew. Scoring 8 points out of 11 games, Vaishali is the first person in history to win the FIDE Grand Swiss twice in a row. She's shown the world what she's worth and regained the rating that she's lost at the Chennai Masters.

Why this is funny is that Vaishali also managed to play a 99% accuracy game:

So, what does this mean? Do I have a telepathic connection with my favourite chess-player of the day?

The answer, of course, is yes. There are more elements that point in that direction, such as the fact that we both played with black, that both openings are part of our mutual repertoires, and that we've both experienced and bounced back from extended losing streaks.

Maybe I'm marked for the GM title one day. Who knows.

(In all earnest: if you really want to, you can find maybe hundreds of thousands of similarities between Vaishali and me. That doesn't mean that there's any cosmic connection. As Vanessa masterfully illustrated in this blog which you ought to have read, the fact that two things happen at the same time has no meaning unless a causal connection can be demonstrated.)

Congrats to Anish Giri and Rameshbabu Vaishali!