Chess Simp is a YouTuber who loves... guess what, chess.
While their exact rating level is unknown, they demonstrate a level of anticipation and experience that suggest they are a great player. They create challenge-based videos and play against random low-rated players, in order to remove actual difficulty from the equation and focus on the (usually fun) challenge. They also expand and challenge members of their Discord server to a game from a preconfigured position, in a series called "I'm better than my viewers". Their videos rarely (if ever) exceed the 3-minute format, either because something messes the challenge up or the game ends in a regular fashion (by checkmate, or if either side's timer runs out, which is 5 minutes).
Their videos follow a strict formula: reading the challenge out loud, matchmaking, then either completing the challenge or getting it ruined, then cutting into the outro.
100-rated chess, but you list tropes included in the videos
- A Day in the Limelight:
- At the start of challenge videos, the screenshots they read include their authors' names and profile picture.
- Same goes when presenting their opponent in "I'm better than my viewers" videos.
- Buffy Speak: Simp calls the "en passant", "the French move".
- Calling Your Attacks: Or, here, moves. Every time Simp or their opponent makes a move, Simp says it out loud, alongside its nature (for example, "knight f6 check", "king e8 is forced", "queen a1, checkmate").
- Catchphrase: So many, Simp could do an entire video with catchphrases only:
- If an opponent makes an aggressive move, "<move>. Very aggressive". Conversely, "not very aggressive" if the move is passive.
- Simp lets out a long "Aha" when they think they figured out the opponent's plan. If they have one anyway.
- If the opponent plays a surprising (but not really absurd) move, expect a TTS that says a long "Wow".
- "Hah. Noob." if the opponent fails to see a move that Simp thinks is in the opponent's advantage, then gets punished accordingly.
- "And in no world would you play <move that blunders an opponent's piece>, right?". Then if the move doesn't happen, "Of course".
- "That blunders a <piece>" when an opponent blunders a piece (or pawn).
- If the opponent pushes the limits of logic by playing a truly absurd move (like a clean queen blunder while both positions are undeveloped), Simp cuts off their own commentary to let out a shocked (albeit deadpan) "WTF was that".
- If his opponent does something very convenient he'll say "I swear this is not a payed actor"
- Hoist By Their Own Petard: Simp often makes moves that allow their opponent to play something that will ruin their video. If they notice, an Oh, Crap! moment follows the move. Then if the opponent does play the move, a beat will pass before they say one last thing and end the video.
- Loophole Abuse: Relies a lot on loopholes and Exact Words to perform in their challenges. Some viewers have come to deliberately word challenges in a way that would allow Simp to find loopholes.
- Money, Dear Boy: A way to make Simp take on your challenges and, so far, has worked, is to donate to them via Patreon or such. They will even comment on how they "don't argue with money" every time it happens.
- The Faceless: Simp is very conscientious about keeping any private details off the Internet. Their YouTube page lists their location as Vietnam, a notion corroborated by an offhand comment that they're of Asian descent (in a video where the Queen acts as an Asian mom) and another offhand comment that "in Vietnam we call [the Vietnam war] the American war" (in a video based on the battle of Dien Bien Phu). No other detail is known.
- Secret Identity Vocal Shift: Simp uses a TTS engine to provide commentary. The surprising thing is the engine is able to imitate human voices in terms of speed and inflection changes, making it sound more like a "simple" pitch change than a complete voice-over from scratch.
- Strictly Formula:
- Their regular challenge videos go as follows: they read a challenge, comment on it, look for an opponent, say out loud the opponent's rating and country, and proceed to play. If the challenge is failed by a surprise opponent move (which often happens), Simp says WTF but gets cut off by their outro. If the game reaches a resignation, timeout, or checkmate, they will proudly claim a "Mission... accomplished" before the outro.
- In the "I'm better than my viewers" series, they show the starting position, introduce the opponent, and proceed to play. If Simp wins, they will also boast a "I'm better than my viewers". In case of defeat or draw, they will keep boasting, but they will add that "this guy, and only this guy, is better than me / my equal".
- They use a limited set of music tracks, notably Higher, Think of U and Sleepless Nights by Roa.
- Spanner in the Works: Simp usually does their best to prevent the opponent from ending the challenge, but since they are low-rated and don't really know what they're doing, unexpected moves will happen and will end the video, much to Simp's dismay.
- The Quiet One: The only times Simp is seen talking in their Discord server is to ask for an "I'm better than my viewers" challenger.
...Trope to A7... Checkmate. Mission... accomplished.
