Plenty of footballers enjoy chess. But few, if any, can match the level of Major League Soccer star Dejan Joveljić. Recently, the Serbian forward showed off his skills in a match against IM Levy Rozman, better known as GothamChess.
Mohamed Salah, Harry Kane, Eberechi Eze, Christian Pulisic, Paulo Dybala, and the list is growing. While most of these are on an amateur level, Joveljić is on a level comparable to titled players.
The 27-year-old Sporting Kansas City forward boasts a FIDE rating of 2217 and an online blitz peak of 2700 on Chess.com, scoring victories against 3000-rated grandmasters.Â
Those credentials likely make the Serbian forward the strongest active chess-playing professional athlete in the world. “I take pride in it because I know how much work it took,” he told Chess.com in an interview. “Reaching 2200+ FIDE level while also being a professional footballer isn’t easy.”
I take pride in it because I know how much work it took. Reaching 2200+ FIDE level while also being a professional footballer isn’t easy.
—Dejan Joveljić
This week, he joined Pulisic as just the second footballer to receive a bot in his name. Asked what kind of player Chess.com members will face, he said: “I think people will face an aggressive player. I like dynamic positions, initiative, pressure… probably similar to my football style.”
He recently received the first chance to test himself against the bot, together with Rozman.
For Joveljić, chess isn’t just a hobby on the side. The Sporting KC striker has played more than 50,000 blitz games on Chess.com. He learned chess from his father and grandfather when he was around five or six years old. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he started taking chess seriously and now takes online lessons from IM Miodrag Perunovic, and his goal is to become a FIDE master.
“Football already demands almost your entire life physically and mentally, so to also compete seriously in chess takes real dedication,” he said.
The 27-year-old says chess constantly reminds him to stay humble. “One bad game and you remember there’s always someone stronger,” he said with a laugh. “I had a lot of them.”
“In football, I compete with athletes. In chess, I compete with minds. I love both.”
In football, I compete with athletes. In chess, I compete with minds. I love both.
—Dejan Joveljić
Joveljić recently got the opportunity to face one of the chess world’s biggest names when he hosted GothamChess at Sporting Park in Kansas City.
Although Rozman won the match in the end, Joveljić was able to win one game. But did Levy really lose on time here? Judge for yourself!
Speaking to Chess.com, Joveljić said he thinks chess has helped his decision-making on the pitch. “Chess helped me become calmer under pressure—the main thing,” he explained. “As a striker, sometimes you have one second to make the right decision—that’s chess under time pressure.”
In a recent interview with CBS Sports, the Serbian star said: “I am a striker, and I’m focused on attacking, and that’s how I play the game,” he said. “Even in chess, I like an aggressive style, and I like dynamic positions, open positions where I need to sacrifice some pieces to checkmate my opponents.”
That mentality seems to have paid off. Since 2023, he has been one of MLS’s best strikers, with only Denis Bouanga, Lionel Messi, and Brian White scoring more goals than him. During that stretch, the Serbian striker helped lead the LA Galaxy to MLS Cup glory, scoring the winning goal in the 2024 final before later joining Sporting Kansas City in a historic $4 million move—the first cash-for-player trade in MLS history.
Asked whether there were any footballers he wanted to challenge personally, he kept things open. “I would honestly play everyone,” he said. “It’s great because footballers are talking about chess—they break the stereotypes.”
Given Joveljić’s level, they may want to prepare carefully.