Dejan Joveljic, MLS striker with 2,600 chess rating, seen as sport’s most gifted player | OneFootball

Dejan Joveljic, the Seattle Sounders striker, boasts a chess.com rating of 2,600, placing him in the top 0.01% of users. According to L'Équipe, he is regarded as the leading chess player among professional athletes.

Footballers such as Michael Olise, Erling Haaland, Mohamed Salah, Christian Pulisic and Eberechi Eze have embraced the game in recent years. Most of their online ratings sit between 1,000 and 1,500, well short of Joveljic’s level.

The Serbia international has nine caps and two goals, and first learned the 64 squares in childhood with his grandfather and father. He recalls knowing only the rules at five or six.

Online chess surged during the Covid-19 pandemic, and 2020 proved a turning point for him while at Anderlecht in Belgium. With the league halted, he took lessons from close friend Miodrag Perunovic, an international master, studying openings, endgames and strategy.

To improve he plays extensively online, with his current chess.com account, active since 2023, logging nearly 45,000 blitz games at four to six minutes a round. Perunovic has praised his discipline, work rate and character on his YouTube channel.

Joveljic has also stepped into over-the-board events, earning a FIDE rating of 2,217. He says the board sharpens split-second decision making and helps him stay calm under pressure.

In May he played an online video match with international master Levy Rozman, known as GothamChess, organised by chess.com to celebrate his tag as the most gifted athlete at chess.

Source: L'Équipe

“Artificial intelligence was used to assist in creating this article based on reporting from the original source quoted.”