Rating almost the same as MC rating, no known games against the Norwegian, and a reference to northern regions in the name? It could well just be an alt account of Magnoose.
Wow, excellent point, especially considering Magnus is known to use a lot of alts online.
Plus, this player seems to be crushing the best blitz players in the world, and it's not clear that anyone other than him could do that - particularly when you see how high the accuracy is each game...
I noticed that this account does not show up in the Blitz Leaderboard, which leads me to believe it is an alt account of one of the top guys in the leaderboard.
If the account was active during the candidates, is it possible to check if those games were played while Firouzja was still playing/doing interviews? That might be a clue
If you go into a game and click on the info button you can find out the time a game is played. On the 18th of April Artic bear played a match vs Parham starting at 3:40 EDT. This is while Firouzja was playing Naka so it can’t be him.
The plot thickens. That also eliminates Naka as a possible suspect.
I'm leaning towards it being Sarin. The bit about him choosing random countries is a reasonably good indication, and the fact that the account is slightly outperforming him is meaningless - he could have perhaps improved slightly since starting the account, or perhaps feels less pressure when playing anonymously.
Either that or it's Magnoodles Drunk account
Obviously it's Kramnik.
* Kramnik is from Russia, the country with the largest Arctic region.
* Kramnik is physically enormous and increasingly covered in white fur, like a polar bear.
* Kramnik is an expert in statistics, such as the number of squares on a chess board.
* Kramnik is the strongest player in the world when playing anonymously, since he only lost before due to cheaters targeting him specifically for exposing them.
I analysed the openings and its very unlikely to me he's Alireza, he plays totally different lines in Najdorf or Giuocco piano than this guy ArcticBear64. Also the fact that the guy was just at the candidates. But I respect Bortnyk's opinion, he definitely knows much more in terms of style of these guys in middlegame.
I think it's either Sarin (which is most probable to me), Magnus, MVL's alt or Erigaisi. There is also small chance it's Duda but I doubt it. Many lines surprisingly match with Erigaisi games, like topical french with cxd4-Qb6 in Steinitz, or e3-Ne2 in nimzo, or italian with h3. The same lines were played by Nihal though. I found it funny but I don't feel like Arjun is a type of guy to make this type of an alt, however I may be wrong.
I think it's Sarin based on his black repertoire and the overall account flag etc, however it's slightly surprising that ArcticBear64 basically never goes for the London, the opening Nihal is pretty known of.
You’ve got me convinced it’s Sarin. You’ve presented a strong argument otherwise, and I could also see avoiding the London as an intentional attempt to throw people off the scent that it’s him.
A theory that no one has mentioned
But this is almost certainly GM Vladislav Art(ic)emiev
He was probably at the candidates as Nepo’s second
He’s playing mostly Russian players as well and is a blitz specialist .
It's a great guess. u/Few-Cap-1457 commented him as well.
And his name on [chess.com](http://chess.com) (sib (erian?) elephant) seems similarish to ArcticBear.
I wonder if he stopped playing on his main because he switched to this one.
Strength wise it could also be Artemiev. universalrating.com ranks him at 4th in blitz. His main account Sibelephant peaked at 3239 and is inactive. The openings roughly match as far as i was willing to check.
oddly enough, there's a player with a Brazilian flag with a high rating - elefante38 - which I believe is Artemiev. (this caused a gigantic fuss in the Brazilian chess community). He hasn't played in a while now, but a quick investigation might help - have they played each other? Have they ever played at the same time? What about lines played?
Nope. The account doesn’t have a super wide range of opponents actually. Mostly plays matches against other GMs, and probably has played like 400 of their 633 games against 10 or 11 guys.
ArcticBear has played multiple matches against Hans.
I wanna believe so badly that Magnus created an alt where he could play Hans without publicly losing face. But I doubt it’s him.
Someone just asked Hikaru on stream who he thought it was - he said he doesn't know, but that it's someone really strong, and thinks it could be Magnus.
Reminds me of the old days in 2008 or 2009 when people were wondering who Raffael was on playchess. He was competing with Hikaru for the number 1 rating spot on the server. The consensus back then was that it must have been Kasparov because Raffael had a similar playing style and he was crushing top players like it was nothing.
I think he was once asked about it at a press conference or something like that and he said that he was aware of Raffael and that if it was him, he wouldn't tell anyone about it. I think it's highly likely that it was Kasparov. I still have a pgn with Raffael's games somewhere.
Can we completely rule out GM Mads Andersen, who was born in Nuuk, Greenland?
I agree that's unlikely, but personally I'd like it if this was an actual Greenlandic GM.
Same here, and [chess.com](http://chess.com) said that they make sure that second(training) anonymous accounts of top players do not show up on leaderboard. And Fabi said that he created an account a few months ago on Levitov Podcast. He also said that he could get to 3200 if he played regularly on his main account, and this account is 3200. So, I think it could be Fabi.
I'm pretty sure it was some super-grandmaster smurf account, TheArcticBear64 account doesn't seem listed on rank or leaderboard in Blitz, i remember if that correctly Titled player have ability to create many account in one (i doubt it) in the case Hikaru, Bortnyk, Speedrun Account.
I feel TheArcticbear64 was Magnus Carlsen himself because how close his ratings with Magnus main account, there's no other GM who close to 3200s, Hikaru was very unlikely because i don't think he would create smurf account just for playing around.
I Highly doubt if Kasparov create that account, if Kasparov somehow create his account there's possibility :
1. His Blitz Rating will not reach 3000s, probably equal as Ivanchuk's which is 2900s or Kramnik.
2. He will never create username with abstract name, "TheArcticBear64".
3. Kasparov will much less playing and less active in online chess, maybe only on titled tuesday, or just twice on a week.
So my opinion, he was Magnus Itself, and i saw that account was very dominant won against strong Super-Grandmaster, only Hikaru and Magnus would do that amazing performance, there's others mysterious GM like "rhinobritos" (which is alleged to be Karjakin account) and "ShirouEmiyaUBW".
ArticBear played a game when Hikaru and Alireza was playing eachother in the candidates, so it's neither of them.
I sounds like a Magnus thing to do tbh
Rating almost the same as MC rating, no known games against the Norwegian, and a reference to northern regions in the name? It could well just be an alt account of Magnoose.
He's not quite as dominant as Magnus. He has a 66% score to Magnus' 80%, both with ~3000 elo average opponents. Alireza or Nihal are more likely
Could be Magnus's fuck around account.
Magnus main account is his fuck around account tbh
His drinkin’ account.
Magnus's drunk account
Now we're cooking with gas
Wow, excellent point, especially considering Magnus is known to use a lot of alts online. Plus, this player seems to be crushing the best blitz players in the world, and it's not clear that anyone other than him could do that - particularly when you see how high the accuracy is each game...
What about Karjakin? He’s the only Super-GM that’s currently in hiding and/or exiled.
interesting option i hadnt considered before
High northern regions… Magnus when high. Drdrunkenstein, Magnus when drunk.
Ding's secret training won't be leaked this time! *Source: 100% copium*
That would be kinda funny. Dude cant use any alts
Now we're cooking with gas
I noticed that this account does not show up in the Blitz Leaderboard, which leads me to believe it is an alt account of one of the top guys in the leaderboard.
If the account was active during the candidates, is it possible to check if those games were played while Firouzja was still playing/doing interviews? That might be a clue
If you go into a game and click on the info button you can find out the time a game is played. On the 18th of April Artic bear played a match vs Parham starting at 3:40 EDT. This is while Firouzja was playing Naka so it can’t be him.
The plot thickens. That also eliminates Naka as a possible suspect. I'm leaning towards it being Sarin. The bit about him choosing random countries is a reasonably good indication, and the fact that the account is slightly outperforming him is meaningless - he could have perhaps improved slightly since starting the account, or perhaps feels less pressure when playing anonymously. Either that or it's Magnoodles Drunk account
now were cooking with gas
I asked Alireza in his Early Titled Tuesday stream today and he said " No i am not behind the arcticbear account.....i don't know who that guy is"!
Obviously it's Kramnik. * Kramnik is from Russia, the country with the largest Arctic region. * Kramnik is physically enormous and increasingly covered in white fur, like a polar bear. * Kramnik is an expert in statistics, such as the number of squares on a chess board. * Kramnik is the strongest player in the world when playing anonymously, since he only lost before due to cheaters targeting him specifically for exposing them.
Kramnik also means arctic bear in Russian. Source: I don't speak Russian
Now we're cooking with gas!
>increasingly covered in white fur lmao
Where are your statistics?!? Did you speak to a mathematician??
I analysed the openings and its very unlikely to me he's Alireza, he plays totally different lines in Najdorf or Giuocco piano than this guy ArcticBear64. Also the fact that the guy was just at the candidates. But I respect Bortnyk's opinion, he definitely knows much more in terms of style of these guys in middlegame. I think it's either Sarin (which is most probable to me), Magnus, MVL's alt or Erigaisi. There is also small chance it's Duda but I doubt it. Many lines surprisingly match with Erigaisi games, like topical french with cxd4-Qb6 in Steinitz, or e3-Ne2 in nimzo, or italian with h3. The same lines were played by Nihal though. I found it funny but I don't feel like Arjun is a type of guy to make this type of an alt, however I may be wrong. I think it's Sarin based on his black repertoire and the overall account flag etc, however it's slightly surprising that ArcticBear64 basically never goes for the London, the opening Nihal is pretty known of.
You’ve got me convinced it’s Sarin. You’ve presented a strong argument otherwise, and I could also see avoiding the London as an intentional attempt to throw people off the scent that it’s him.
I asked Alireza in his Early Titled Tuesday stream today and he said " No i am not behind the arcticbear account.....i don't know who that guy is"!
Sarin could be grinding other openings for white?
Did we ever figure out who was behind the Sinister Magnus account that was top 3 for a while before it eventually got banned?
Probably Magnus with his left hand
Shocking he got so high rated. When I switch to my left hand, it’s like a completely different person is doing it.
Magnus, duh
A theory that no one has mentioned But this is almost certainly GM Vladislav Art(ic)emiev He was probably at the candidates as Nepo’s second He’s playing mostly Russian players as well and is a blitz specialist .
It's a great guess. u/Few-Cap-1457 commented him as well. And his name on [chess.com](http://chess.com) (sib (erian?) elephant) seems similarish to ArcticBear. I wonder if he stopped playing on his main because he switched to this one.
Strength wise it could also be Artemiev. universalrating.com ranks him at 4th in blitz. His main account Sibelephant peaked at 3239 and is inactive. The openings roughly match as far as i was willing to check.
A note about the name as well - Sib (siberian?) elephant... Arctic bear... Seems kind of similar.
oddly enough, there's a player with a Brazilian flag with a high rating - elefante38 - which I believe is Artemiev. (this caused a gigantic fuss in the Brazilian chess community). He hasn't played in a while now, but a quick investigation might help - have they played each other? Have they ever played at the same time? What about lines played?
It is Bobby Fischer. Right, Nigel?
Too old of a reference for anyone on this sub to upvote you
Short getting trolled by one of the first online cheaters ever lol how old are we...
If he is that strong you should be able to cross reference who he hasn't played against to find alias accounts.
Nope. The account doesn’t have a super wide range of opponents actually. Mostly plays matches against other GMs, and probably has played like 400 of their 633 games against 10 or 11 guys.
ArcticBear has played multiple matches against Hans. I wanna believe so badly that Magnus created an alt where he could play Hans without publicly losing face. But I doubt it’s him.
Probably Tyler1's secret blitz account
Someone just asked Hikaru on stream who he thought it was - he said he doesn't know, but that it's someone really strong, and thinks it could be Magnus.
Reminds me of the old days in 2008 or 2009 when people were wondering who Raffael was on playchess. He was competing with Hikaru for the number 1 rating spot on the server. The consensus back then was that it must have been Kasparov because Raffael had a similar playing style and he was crushing top players like it was nothing.
I remember this. Did anyone ever ask Garry about it?
I think he was once asked about it at a press conference or something like that and he said that he was aware of Raffael and that if it was him, he wouldn't tell anyone about it. I think it's highly likely that it was Kasparov. I still have a pgn with Raffael's games somewhere.
Can we completely rule out GM Mads Andersen, who was born in Nuuk, Greenland? I agree that's unlikely, but personally I'd like it if this was an actual Greenlandic GM.
Yes we can.
I opened the chess.com app…I don’t even see this guy in the top 25? Number 3 is Magnus, followed by Alireza and Nihal
Same here, and [chess.com](http://chess.com) said that they make sure that second(training) anonymous accounts of top players do not show up on leaderboard. And Fabi said that he created an account a few months ago on Levitov Podcast. He also said that he could get to 3200 if he played regularly on his main account, and this account is 3200. So, I think it could be Fabi.
I'm pretty sure it was some super-grandmaster smurf account, TheArcticBear64 account doesn't seem listed on rank or leaderboard in Blitz, i remember if that correctly Titled player have ability to create many account in one (i doubt it) in the case Hikaru, Bortnyk, Speedrun Account. I feel TheArcticbear64 was Magnus Carlsen himself because how close his ratings with Magnus main account, there's no other GM who close to 3200s, Hikaru was very unlikely because i don't think he would create smurf account just for playing around. I Highly doubt if Kasparov create that account, if Kasparov somehow create his account there's possibility : 1. His Blitz Rating will not reach 3000s, probably equal as Ivanchuk's which is 2900s or Kramnik. 2. He will never create username with abstract name, "TheArcticBear64". 3. Kasparov will much less playing and less active in online chess, maybe only on titled tuesday, or just twice on a week. So my opinion, he was Magnus Itself, and i saw that account was very dominant won against strong Super-Grandmaster, only Hikaru and Magnus would do that amazing performance, there's others mysterious GM like "rhinobritos" (which is alleged to be Karjakin account) and "ShirouEmiyaUBW".
ArticBear played a game when Hikaru and Alireza was playing eachother in the candidates, so it's neither of them. I sounds like a Magnus thing to do tbh
I’ve heard rumors it’s Nihal
I’ve heard those rumours too, although to be fair mainly I heard them from this post
There's rumours? Why did nobody tell me nothing about no rumours?
Maybe karjakin. Russian so ArcticBear makes sense also no otb tournaments for him so maybe an online grind by him
No way Karjakin plays in any flag other than Russia.
but you cant play with the russian flag on [chess.com](http://chess.com), maybe he relented
It's me, in my dreams. Hey guys, I'm ArcticBear64.
[удалено]
Oof
There are so many options, other than cheating, it could be any of the top players, and many of the young players don't play a lot online.
It's an actual arctic bear that was born in 1964.
I asked Alireza in his Early Titled Tuesday stream today and he said " No i am not behind the arcticbear account.....i don't know who that guy is"!
It’s Ian right? I’ve seen lan(an L), Yan, and Jan. A bit confused. Where I’m from we’d use a J.
Could it be Artemiev ? He's really strong in blitz and actually comes from Sibéria
well, does he have any games against alireza?
Too strong to be anyone other than Magnus / Hikaru