“Kramnik gonna be hunting him soon” - Fans react as Tyler1 crosses 1,900 ELO on Chess.com

Long-time Twitch streamer Tyler Steinkamp aka Tyler "Tyler1" has once again done what appeared to be a distant dream - he has smashed past the 1,900 ELO rating on Chess.com. For those unaware, Tyler has essentially been a League of Legends player and streamer for the longest period. However, he appears to have shifted his focus to online chess over the past year or so.

The streamer, who was barely rated 200 at one point, now stands among the top 0.5% of players on the chess-playing website. Popular chess creator Levy "GothamChess" has been up-to-date with Tyler's journey. He took to his X.com profile to share the streamer's latest achievement. Levy wrote:

"This is absolutely insane. Tyler1 has just crossed 1900 Elo in chess. He is now ranked in the top 0.5% in the world. He learned chess 10 months ago. Is this man human?"

GothamChess reacts to Tyler1's rise in rating (Image via X)

This piece of news naturally impressed the wider chess and streaming audience. One user mockingly wrote how Vladimir Kramnik, who has been on a verbal rampage recently, might start targeting the streamer:

"Kramnik gonna be hunting him soon enough."

Fans joke about Vladimir Kramnik (Image via X)

Here are some other reactions:

Chess and streaming community react to the news (Image via X)

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How did Tyler1 become so good at Chess? Streamer's trajectory explored

Tyler1's foray into the world of chess has been nothing short of remarkable. When he played in Twitch and Chess.com's amateur online tournament Pogchamps 5 in July 2023, the streamer's rating barely scraped 200. You can see his rating here:

Tyler was barely 200 rated (Image via YouTube/Chess.com)

In fact, he ended up being relegated to the consolation bracket in the tournament, and ever since, he's been captivated by the game. Though he isn't streaming as frequently, he's dedicating more time to Chess.com.

For context, he has played over 8.5K games at the time of writing. In Rapid games alone, his tally nears 6K games on Chess.com. What's more intriguing is that he plays a rather uncommon opening called the "Cow Opening" (typically regarded as a troll-worthy opening).

Here's a visual representation of his journey:

Tyler's incredible Chess improvement (Image via Chess.com)

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Recently, fellow Twitch streamer and chess grandmaster Hikaru "GMHikaru" took to his stream to remark on Tyler1's climb, noting that such progress is likely to become commonplace going forward, given that players now have access to a wealth of resources.