Better Than ‘Hikiru,’ Tyler1 Wins Alongside Squeex, Sapnap, Jarvis

Another avalanche of unexpected plot twists marked the fourth day of PogChamps 5.

Squeex defeated Jinnitty in his debut, later losing a close match with Tyler1. Like a superhero from any given movie, Sapnap defeated his overpowered opponent Wirtual with sheer willpower. Finally, Jarvis dispatched Sykkuno in what was probably the quickest match in PogChamps history. 

PogChamps 5 continues Tuesday, August 1, starting at 5 p.m. ET/23:00 CEST.

• Squeex 2-0 Jinnytty
• Wirtual 1-2 Sapnap
• Squeex 1-2 Tyler1
• Jarvis 2-0 Sykkuno

Squeex 2-0 Jinnytty

Speedrunner Squeex drew first blood, winning his match against Jinnyty. While Squeex took a few minutes to work on chess puzzles to prepare for the match, Jinny went in a different direction. Streaming for more than six hours before playing, she decided that a last-minute lesson on Chess Opening Tricks To WIN Fast was more than enough. 

Squeex out-prepared Jinny exquisitely in the opening when he played 1.e4 instead of 1.d4—a move that was not covered in Jinny's video. Squeex developed all of his pieces and got into a great position. Then, he suddenly had an epiphany that every chess player, at some point, has:

A few moves later and Squeex had a winning position. If only he could find the winning move, he would've produced the most stunning checkmate in PogChamps history. But then he did the other thing that all chess players do:

Despite blundering most of his advantage away, Squeex was still able to win after Jinny employed the infamous Botez Gambit. Aided by the clock, Squeex got his first win after eating up all of his opponent's pieces.

The second game developed normally until Jinny's adventurous spirit enticed her to recapture a pawn with her g-pawn—the same pawn protecting her king. Squeex sensed he had a chance to win this game and quickly developed his pieces to take advantage of his opponent's open king.

Jinny was under pressure when she suddenly found checkmate—strangely, the game didn't end. It turns out that her knight could be captured. And the king could escape. 

It also turns out that she was the one really getting mated—another thing we all go through.

Wirtual 1-2 Sapnap

Fans were anxious to see Wirtual's first participation in the event. As the highest-rated and the most Norwegian player in the field, Wirtual is as close as a PogChamps 5 participant can get to GM Magnus Carlsen. 

However, Sapnap's performance so far in the tournament proved that he's not to be truffled with. The Minecraft creator recently delivered one of the fastest checkmates in PogChamps 5 and showed incredible resilience against Ghastly. 

A confident Sapnap showed no fear of his higher-rated opponent when he grabbed a pawn in the center before castling. The pawn came with a price, as Wirtual soon spotted a great tactic to win Sapnap's queen. 

Despite a slight stalemate scare, Wirtual had no trouble converting his advantage and winning his inaugural PogChamps game. 

It was in the second game that Sapnap's redemption odyssey started. Sapnap got a great positional advantage out of the opening but failed to take full advantage of it. Wirtual later equalized and even got into a better position in the endgame. 

However, just like in his previous matches, Sapnap found a critical move to put pressure on his opponent's king. As Wirtual blundered and allowed mate in one, Sapnap's proud coach, Andrea Botez, couldn't contain a "MATE IN TWO" yell:

And that was right after blaming Sapnap's other coach, IM Levy Rozman, for Sapnap's first-game defeat.

Sapnap had the white pieces in the tiebreaks, as he had the best accuracy in the first two games. A messy game unfolded as time pressure had both players in distress. Sapnap hung a knight, which Wirtual missed. Then Sapnap blundered a piece again, but was let off the hook. Then, it was Wirtual who hung a piece and Sapnap who missed it. 

With both players having less than 20 seconds on the clock, they opted for massive trades, but it was Sapnap who came out on top with a knight fork at the end of the sequence. Still in time trouble, Wirtual chose to save his queen, leaving his weak back rank unprotected. Despite having less than 10 seconds on his clock, Sapnap found the winning move to win the match.

Squeex 1-2 Tyler1

After challenging Levy and 'that Hikiru guy' for a 1v1, Tyler1 was confident about his match against Squeex. Even though he was worse during most of the match, the League of Legends streamer turned the table to win the match and jump to the top of his group standings.

The first game was balanced throughout the opening, with Squeex and Tyler playing relatively good moves. The game started to change when Tyler played a daring kingside pawn push in an effort to maneuver his non-existing knight. 

With an unsafe king and staring at the barrel of his opponent's active pieces, Tyler got distracted and blundered one of his bishops. After that, it was game over for Tyler, and Squeex quickly delivered checkmate.

But as a gym aficionado, Tyler knows there are no gains unless there are pains. And after a painful defeat in game one, gains he had in game two. Setting up a queen and rook battery, Tyler opened up the g-file to checkmate his unsuspecting opponent. 

Sometimes, it is hard to appreciate geniuses in their own time. Wielding the black pieces, Tyler unapologetically broke many of the 'so-called' chess principles. He quickly gave up a knight. He was in no hurry to castle. But he also set up the same rook and queen battery from his last game.

Paraphrasing Bruce Lee (according to the internet, at least): Fear not the man who knows 10,000 chess moves. Fear the man who knows one chess move but practices it 10,000 times.

Do not be surprised if chess theorists study the 'Tyler1 Gun' for years to come after this match.

"You didn't want to see me win, bro," Tyler said to Danny after the match was over. "I have been playing this game for like five days, maybe. I played flawless. I was mind gaming Squeex, he was playing checkers."

"Classic Tyler1, knowing one move and being able to checkmate, and that's what he capitalizes on," was Squeex's response. "Chess is a story. Yeah, you won this time, but the second I figure out how to stop that, you're going down."

Jarvis 2-0 Sykkuno

Jarvis speedran a match victory against Sykkuno to close off the fourth day of PogChamps 5. How did that happen?

Well, the first game started with Sykkuno going for the Bongcloud. And then a Botez Gambit. But there are only so many memes a chess game can take. Jarvis soon checkmated Sykkuno's king on c6.

Asked about his peculiar opening choice, Sykkuno later revealed what inspired him: "I saw a video when I was googling guides last night, and there's this guy who said he's got to like, [3000] rating with the Bongcloud. I was like 'wow, 3000 is pretty high, so it's gotta be good if this guy made it to 3000!' The guy's name is Hikaru, I think."

3000 is pretty high, so it's gotta be good if this guy made it to 3000!
— Sykkuno on the Bongcloud.

If one got up to get a snack to enjoy the match's second game, one might've missed the game entirely. In less than the time it takes to cook instant noodles, Jarvis found a Scholar's-type checkmate on f2 to win the match. Once more, Jarvis could hardly stop himself from screaming with joy. 

"Even though I'll be in the secondary bracket, I hope I get to show off a little bit more of my potential as I get more time to practice," Jarvis said about his performance in the group stage.

"I specifically said I was bad at chess," Sykkuno said in his post-match interview. "The only other contestant I knew was in it was Leslie, and I was like, 'Oh, that sounds super casual.' Well, I've played against Connor, who beat Ludwig while being repeatedly slapped. A guy who is a chess Youtuber, apparently... Jarvis is probably the best guy I've played against, actually."

All Games: Day 4

PogChamps 5 is Chess.com's most popular chess event for creators. Featuring 16 players and a $100,000 prize fund, the event starts on July 26, 2023, and ends August 18, 2023, with live in-person finals happening in Los Angeles, United States. Creators are divided into groups of four and play a single round-robin before moving on to either a Championship or Consolation bracket.

Previous coverage:

• Group Stage Day 3: Best Game Ever Or Worst Game Ever?: Papaplatte, Sapnap, Franks-is-heres Victorious
• Group Stage Day 2: Plot Twists, Tiebreaks, And Cartwheels: CDawgVA And Ghastly Prevail
• Group Stage Day 1: Stalemate, Blunders, And Dance Moves: Welcome To PogChamps 5
• PogChamps 5: All The Information
• PogChamps 5 Is Ready For Liftoff! Chess.com’s Spectacular Battle Of The Creators Is Back
• PogChamps 5 Lineup Revealed Feat. xQc, Tyler1, QTCinderella And More, Action Starts July 26