xQc Beats Tyler1 Before Loudest Post-Match Interview In PogChamps History

August 4, 2023

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PogChamps 5 continued with another action-packed day. QTCinderella fought for redemption by checkmating Papaplatte twice to win their match.

xQc then proved that chess is harder than League of Legends as he defeated Tyler1 in a possible prequel to another encounter in the Championship Bracket.

PogChamps 5 continues Friday, August 4, starting at 4 p.m. ET/22:00 CEST.

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Live commentary provided by Andrea Botez and WFM Anna Cramling.

QTCinderella 2-1 Papaplatte

Opening the day was the match between QTCinderella and Papaplatte, with both players having a shot at the Championship Bracket. Surprisingly, QT delivered not one but two checkmates to win the match. Sadly for her, the second checkmate only came in the tiebreaks, preventing her from reaching Papaplatte in the standings and advancing to the Championship Bracket.

To prep for this important match, the players took two different approaches. Papaplatte warmed up by looking at chess memes. A sick QTCinderella sipped on some tea and water to get over her headache—a common side effect of stalemate overdose, by the way.

Never abandoning her trusty Stonewall, QT played a great first game, checkmating Papaplatte in only 20 moves.

Papaplatte was not ready to give up his seat in the Championship Bracket, though. Despite losing a couple of pawns in the second game, he developed a dangerous initiative and capitalized on QT’s misplaced king. It was Papaplatte’s turn to checkmate QT, this time in 22 moves.

QT’s Stonewall came to the rescue once more in the tiebreaks, as Papaplatte fell for a very similar kingside attack that signaled the beginning of the end. QT eventually infiltrated his position, won considerable material, and delivered her second checkmate (gasp)!

In her post-match interview, QT shared her feelings: “I don’t feel good,” she started, referring to her sickness. “I’ve got ginger tea… And I did throw up during this, so… You know what? That’s a win!”

QT also took the opportunity to land gratuitous punches on one of the nicest competitors (and other streamers’ favorite trash-talking target, apparently) in PogChamps 5, Squeex:

About making it to the Championship Bracket, Papaplatte said: “I’m very proud of it. I’m not really sure how I did it because I haven’t practiced at all. I started practicing two hours before the first match.”

That’s it, kids! The secret to making it big? Never study chess.

xQc 2-0 Tyler1

And then it was time for the most anticipated match of the event. Or almost.

xQc did not show up in time for his encounter against Tyler1, making everybody wonder if he would play at all. Several minutes later, a half-awake Felix turned on his stream and explained what happened: he fell asleep on the floor an hour and a half before he had to play.

Tyler1, widely known to be an even-tempered individual, showed grace and understanding toward his opponent and the situation:

And was also very forgiving when xQc asked for two more minutes to “juice up”:

Moments later, a juiced-up “Juice Lord” returned to the computer and the players were ready to go. To commentator Anna Cramling’s excitement, Tyler employed her signature opening, “The Cow,” against xQc. Both players were quick to blunder, but Tyler saw his opponent’s mistake first, winning a piece.

A piece up, there was only one way for Tyler to mess his position up. Sadly for him, he found it:

xQc restored material equality and later got into a winning endgame. He eventually promoted his pawns and had no problem checkmating his opponent, despite the commentators’ unjustified stalemate scare—a clear sign of trauma from yesterday’s match. Remember, the king can take opponent pawns:

The underdog Tyler was not impressed with his opponent’s play. Upon his in-depth analysis of the game, he came to the following conclusion:

After seeing his life flash before his eyes in the first part of the match, xQc was clearly more focused during the second game. Despite the considerable rating gap, the game was balanced. In a sad twist of fate, Tyler lost one of the only pieces he knows how to use, according to himself:

xQc kept the pressure on and again had no trouble converting. With his win, he closed the match to finish as the sole leader of his group on nine points, four ahead of second-place Tyler. xQc is also the only player in the field to have a perfect 6-0-0 record and nine points at the end of the group stage.

The match was over, but the battle of the minds continued. The two streamers kept going at each other in a highly professional post-match interview. Below you can see it in full:

Do note that xQc and Tyler could only come to terms when going on another uncalled-for crusade against Squeex (at the 3:57 mark of the video above).

Both players will advance to the Championship Bracket and might face each other again with even higher stakes.

The chess world awaits.

All Games: Day 7

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.

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