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No. 1 chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen over pieces and board
Magnus Carlsen has been the top-ranked chess player on the planet, and beating him in a match is an impressive badge of honor for anyone who gets the chance to face off against him. A Twitch streamer recently got the chance to check that second box, and he had an amazing reaction after he managed to tick the first one.
It’s been 55 years since the International Chess Federation started keeping tabs on players around the world by introducing the FIDE rankings (an acronym derived from the French name for the governing body) in July of 1971.
Since then, only seven people have occupied the top spot, including a couple of legendary grandmasters in the form of Bobby Fischer (who was No. 1 when it was introduced) and Garry Kasparov (who held onto the title for over two decades after claiming it in 1976).
The most recent (and current) top dog is Magnus Carlsen, the Norwegian sensation who has been the man to beat since 2011. The prodigy was only 13 years old when he achieved grandmaster status, and he currently holds the all-time record for the highest Elo score after peaking at 2823 in 2014.
He’s one of the most dominant players in the history of the sport, but plenty of people have managed to beat him over the years. That list now includes a player from Bulgaria, who did not hold back after clinching a victory during a tournament.
Bulgarian chess player Volen “Witty Alien” Dyulgerov ripped off his clothes after beating Magnus Carlsen in a blitz match
On Wednesday, Chess.com kicked off the inaugural Chess Club Showdown, an event where 4,400 players affiliated with nine esports teams had the chance to compete for a piece of a $25,000 prize pool.
Competitors were randomly pitted against each other in an event where Carlsen represented Team Liquid, and he was eventually paired up with Volen Dyulgerov, a Bulgarian Candidate Master who streams on Twitch under the name “Witty Alien” (his FIDE page classifies him as inactive but lists a classic Elo score of 2181 and 2098 in both rapid and blitz).
The two men met in a five-minute blitz match, and it’s safe to say Dyulgerov was thrilled to discover who he was playing against when you consider he started yelling and ripped off his shirt when he realized it was Carlsen.
The celebration only escalated from there, as he pulled off a gambit that led to him cornering his opponent in less than a minute before the grandmaster resigned—a development that led to Dyulgerov taking off his pants for good measure.
A Bulgarian streamer got matched with Magnus Carlsen, the world’s most famous chess player, and took it in a completely normal and measured way.
Then he won the game.
The celebrations were, naturally, very modest.
— JazzBG 🇧🇬🇪🇺🇺🇦 (@JazzBulgaria) October 1, 2026
I can’t really say I blame him.