GM Zhou Jianchao‘s extraordinary unbeaten run ended last weekend after 158 classical games. The Chinese-born grandmaster has made it to the history books by achieving the longest known run of consecutive classical games without losing.
The 38-year-old, who has represented the U.S. since 2024, had succeeded in avoiding a loss for almost a year. But this month, his run finally came to an end when he lost to GM Francesco Sonis in round four of the Connecticut Classical, held February 6-8. Sonis eventually won the tournament, but perhaps a greater achievement was ending Zhou’s incredible streak.
Zhou had played 158 classical games without a defeat across 26 tournaments since his last loss, against 2176-rated Andrew Lewis Titus in the Annual Chicago Open, on May 23, 2025. That’s three games more than GM Bogdan Lalic’s 155-game unbeaten run in 2010-2011.
“I didn’t know how many games I had played without losing. Mentality is very important. If I had thought about this, it would have affected my performance, and I would have lost a long time ago,” Zhou told Chess.com.
Zhou Jianchao against Francisco Sonis during the Connecticut Classical. Photo: Connecticut State Chess Association.
It’s a remarkable feat by the grandmaster, as playing so many games without losing is exceptionally rare, even for the strongest players. “Getting to 100+ classical games without losing is incredible, getting close to 160 is historical objectively,” chess statistician Stefano Ferraro told Chess.com.
Getting to 100+ classical games without losing is incredible, getting close to 160 is historical objectively.—Stefano Ferraro, chess statistician
Ferraro has been tracking over-the-board streaks and closely following Zhou. He pointed out how the Chinese-born grandmaster has been facing mostly weaker opposition in smaller state open events in the U.S. “But he also plays a lot of young, underrated players, so to get this record is still incredibly impressive.”
Taking the level of opposition into account, GM Magnus Carlsen‘s legendary 125-game unbeaten streak from 2018 to 2020 is widely considered the record. During the run, he faced an average rating of 2745, or the equivalent of facing today’s top-15 players in every game.
“Of course, it would be unfair to compare his (Zhou’s) streak to Magnus’ 125-game streak because of the difference in the level of opposition,” the chess statistician noted. Zhou agreed saying: “Carlsen is still obviously better. His opponents were much stronger and his performance was better.”
Zhou faced a rating average of 2298, considerably below his own rating of 2581. The grandmaster won 106 games, drew 52, and scored 132/158 points (83.5 percent). Zhou’s streak did not include any major events, but Ferraro argued it may actually surpass some other famous streaks, such as Lalic’s 155-game run.
“Zhou gained close to 20 points and kept his rating close to 2600, which is impressive playing so many lower-rated players,” Ferraro said, adding: “2300s nowadays are not easy opponents even for GMs, especially if they are young.”
Zhou Jianchao during the Connecticut Classical. Photo: Connecticut State Chess Association.
His opponents include notable players, including 26 games against grandmasters. He won 10 of these games that included wins against GMs Mahel Boyer, Praveen Balakrishnan, Brewington Hardaway, Emilio Cordova, and Robby Kevlishvili. He also scored a draw against his only higher-rated opponent, current world number-22, GM Awonder Liang.
His game against the young Frenchman Boyer was a wild one:
And with black, here’s how he finished off GM Jesse Kraai in just 23 moves.
Complete list of Zhou’s games
Game #
Opponent
Title
Rating
Result
1
Gaw, Chloe
WIM
2185
1-0
2
Campos, Augusto Cesar
IM
2280
1-0
3
Jing, Andrew
FM
2255
1-0
4
Lin, Dachey
FM
2307
1-0
5
Narayanan, Samrug
IM
2432
½-½
6
Cruz, Cristhian
GM
2472
1-0
7
Kevlishvili, Robby
GM
2541
1-0
8
Yan, Nathan
CM
2181
1-0
9
Deng, Henry
FM
2327
½-½
10
Lu, Ming
IM
2254
1-0
11
Battaglini Flom, Gabriel
GM
2452
1-0
12
Kostolansky, Sebastian
FM
2416
½-½
13
Ghaemmaghami, Ehsan
GM
2417
½-½
14
Khachiyan, Melikset
GM
2397
½-½
15
Wang, Isaac
FM
2364
1-0
16
Cordova Daza, Emilio
GM
2516
1-0
17
Desai, Ayaan
2181
1-0
18
Aaron, Deepak
2318
1-0
19
Zapata, Alonso
GM
2267
1-0
20
Horobetz, Graham
2250
1-0
21
Kevlishvili, Robby
GM
2543
½-½
22
Santosh, Saharsh
2181
1-0
23
Safranek, William
2181
1-0
24
Vanapalli, Vishnu Surya
FM
2287
1-0
25
Lin, Bryan Enming
FM
2343
½-½
26
Micheal, Kevin George
IM
2327
1-0
27
Deng, Henry
FM
2327
½-½
28
Huston, Gus
IM
2315
1-0
29
Cardoso, Jose Gabriel
GM
2516
½-½
30
Khanbutaev, Artemii
2183
1-0
31
Tang, Dylan
CM
2249
1-0
32
Poliannikov, Danila
FM
2342
½-½
33
Liang, Jason
IM
2397
1-0
34
Huston, Gus
IM
2316
1-0
35
Bortnyk, Mykola
IM
2381
½-½
36
Narayanan, Samrug
IM
2418
½-½
37
Hardaway, Brewington
GM
2498
1-0
38
Preotu, Razvan
GM
2472
½-½
39
Khanbutaev, Artemii
2183
1-0
40
Padhya, Saumil
2204
½-½
41
Rao, Anjaneya Sripathy
CM
2183
1-0
42
Shin, Luke
2183
1-0
43
Mashkov, David Alexander
2183
1-0
44
Xu, Raymond
2183
1-0
45
Slate, Kent
2183
1-0
46
Garg, Priyansh
2183
1-0
47
Chirilov, James
FM
2212
½-½
48
Pan, Yongfei
2184
1-0
49
Bortnyk, Mykola
IM
2389
½-½
50
Kalpaka, Vaibhav
FM
2318
1-0
51
Atanasov, Anthony
IM
2411
1-0
52
Pyrih, Roman
FM
2425
1-0
53
Steingrimsson, Hedinn
GM
2492
½-½
54
Kraai, Jesse
GM
2372
1-0
55
Tang, Andrew
GM
2538
½-½
56
Feng, Eric Z
2197
1-0
57
Shi, Jason
FM
2184
1-0
58
Groff, Jordan
2184
1-0
59
Poliannikov, Danila
FM
2351
1-0
60
Carlson, Joaquin
2184
½-½
61
Pendse, Vihaan
2184
½-½
62
Wang, Lacey
2184
1-0
63
Schenk, Sam
2184
1-0
64
Amrany, Benjamin
2184
1-0
65
Balakrishnan, Praveen
GM
2494
1-0
66
Kazan, Jude
2184
1-0
67
Shen, Leo Xiaohang
2184
1-0
68
Ling, Chenxuan
CM
2222
1-0
69
Luger, Sam
2218
1-0
70
Benjamin, Joel
GM
2473
½-½
71
Su, Jasmine Zhixin
2254
1-0
72
Cutitaru, Marius
2189
1-0
73
Zhang, Oscar Yihang
2189
1-0
74
Crump, Alexander
2189
1-0
75
Liang, Awonder
GM
2698
½-½
76
Chirilov, James
FM
2252
1-0
77
Demirel, Esat Omer
2197
½-½
78
Ghodgaonkar, Anirudh P
2197
1-0
79
Kalpaka, Vaibhav
FM
2256
½-½
80
Slate, Kent
CM
2221
1-0
81
Altucher, James
2197
1-0
82
Wang, Aaron Yitian
2197
1-0
83
Santosh, Saharsh
2197
1-0
84
Singh, Hersh
FM
2197
1-0
85
Rachels, Stuart
IM
2451
½-½
86
Sharma, Aahan
2197
1-0
87
Dehmelt, Karl
FM
2197
1-0
88
Slate, Kent
CM
2221
1-0
89
Stearman, Josiah
IM
2469
½-½
90
Chasin, Nico Werner
IM
2504
½-½
91
Zhao, Kevin
CM
2197
½-½
92
C Krishnamachari, Arjun
2197
1-0
93
Yesuntumur, Tugstumur
FM
2418
1-0
94
Muller, Axel
2191
1-0
95
Movsisyan, Harutyun
2191
1-0
96
Guo, Felix
2191
½-½
97
Damaraju, Ashwin
2191
1-0
98
Xie, Bryan
FM
2347
1-0
99
Fischer, Jacob
2191
1-0
100
Ren, Jesse
2191
1-0
101
Petesch, Gabriel Nicholas
FM
2324
½-½
102
Khanbutaev, Artemii
2191
1-0
103
Song, Edward
IM
2391
1-0
104
Porter, Ryan W
FM
2200
½-½
105
Iinuma, Paul Yuu
2191
1-0
106
Sundaram, Siddarth Meenakshi
2220
1-0
107
Degenbaev, Aziz
FM
2302
1-0
108
Corrales Jimenez, Fidel
GM
2519
½-½
109
He, Daniel
2288
½-½
110
Keleberda, Tymur
FM
2370
1-0
111
Nyzhnyk, Illia
GM
2544
½-½
112
Belous, Vladimir
GM
2495
1-0
113
Kung, Thomas
2191
1-0
114
Lin, Dachey
FM
2352
½-½
115
Zia, Tahsin Tajwar
FM
2338
1-0
116
Fus, Jakub
IM
2426
½-½
117
Atanasov, Anthony
IM
2429
½-½
118
Sethuraman, Sandeep
IM
2417
1-0
119
Molner, Mackenzie
GM
2463
½-½
120
Chatterjee, Koustav
IM
2475
½-½
121
Lu, Maximillian
IM
2395
½-½
122
Dong, Kyle
CM
2192
1-0
123
Rohde, Michael
GM
2209
½-½
124
Bhatia, Aadit
2192
1-0
125
Huston, Gus
IM
2356
1-0
126
Bortnyk, Mykola
IM
2407
½-½
127
Chasin, Nico
IM
2517
1-0
128
Lamaze, Simon
IM
2466
1-0
129
Muetsch, Annmarie
WIM
2225
½-½
130
Yue, Tariq
CM
2218
½-½
131
Liu, Patrick Peijun
FM
2211
1-0
132
Li, Rachael
WIM
2325
1-0
133
Liu, Eric Chang
IM
2390
½-½
134
Omelja, Artem
GM
2395
½-½
135
Su, Jasmine Zhixin
FM
2300
1-0
136
Ozenir, Ekin Baris
IM
2433
½-½
137
Boyer, Mahel
GM
2527
1-0
138
Matsunaga, Toma
2189
1-0
139
Ingargiola, Max
2189
½-½
140
Wang, Rocky
2189
1-0
141
Carlson, Joaquin A.
2189
1-0
142
Jacobson, Aaron
FM
2371
½-½
143
Lu, Lucas
2189
1-0
144
Rogers, Norman
FM
2189
1-0
145
Shen, Leo Xiaohang
2189
1-0
146
Graif, William
FM
2195
1-0
147
Cardoso Cardoso, Jose Gabriel
GM
2520
½-½
148
Katz, Alexander Ross
IM
2358
1-0
149
Park, Evan
IM
2410
½-½
150
Hamilton, Timothy Gregg
2189
1-0
151
Collier, Philip M
2189
1-0
152
Zlodorev, Alexander
2189
1-0
153
Novikov, Igor
GM
2483
½-½
154
Bhargava, Anay
2189
1-0
155
Ren, Jesse
2108
1-0
156
Griggs, Walker Kyle
2246
1-0
157
Tabuenca Mendataurigoitia, Danie
2360
1-0
158
Groff, Jordan
2112
1-0
With a peak rating as high as 2669 since 2010, Zhou is not exactly the average grandmaster. That same year he played for China at the 2010 Chess Olympiad and reached his highest-ever ranking, 67th in the world. He was only 17 when he became China’s 21st grandmaster.
After moving to Medford, Massachusetts (north of Boston), in 2024, he has now become the 19th highest-ranked player in the U.S. He calls it a more relaxed environment and can now compete in more tournaments than in China.
Zhou Jianchao at the FIDE Grand Swiss in 2021. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
Zhou had two explanations for his 158-game run, telling Chess.com: “I prepare thoroughly for each game’s opening and have excellent emotional control. The outcome doesn’t affect me much,” he said.
I prepare thoroughly for each game’s opening and have excellent emotional control. The outcome doesn’t affect me much.—Zhou Jianchao
When facing danger, he often chose pragmatism over ambition. He said: “I tend to deliberately simplify the game when the situation is very risky. Of course, the downside is that it can sometimes lead to a draw.”
He also explained that the streak survived some close calls. “Last Christmas, in the North American Open, I almost lost because I didn’t pay attention to check the tactics and didn’t see a small detail,” Zhou revealed. “Sometimes when the situation isn’t favorable for me, my opponent doesn’t play their best. That is also a very important factor.”
In September last year, Chess.com covered GM Vadim Zvjaginsev‘s unbeaten run of 95 games, a streak that has now been extended to 105 games. However, the rating of the Russian grandmaster has actually dropped during his run, as is the case with many other players facing considerably weaker opposition.
Updated list of ongoing streaks (including Zhou’s):
#
Player
Games
FED
Score
ELO
ELO +/-
Avg opp
Top Opponent
1
Zhou Jianchao
158 (*)
132/158
2581
21.4
2298.28
Awonder Liang (2698)
2
Vadim Zvjaginsev
105
72/105
2539
-5
2371.62
Andrey Esipenko (2693)
3
Daniil Dubov
76
46.5/76
2672
-36.5
2559.79
Praggnanandhaa (2768)
4
Tanguy Ringoir
66
48.5/66
2529
48.2
2371.77
Awonder Liang (2640)
5
Vitaly Sivuk
63
47.5/63
2521
50.9
2354.87
Diptayan Ghosh (2577)
6
John Nunn
54
39/54
2514
-39.9
2260.99
Alexander Beliavsky (2471)
7
Carlos Daniel Albornoz Cabrera
52
41.5/52
2579
34.5
2360.51
Valentin Dragnev (2547)
8
Zbigniew Pakleza
51
35.5/51
2498
8.3
2337.84
Valery Kazakouski (2596)
9
Liam Vrolijk
51
40/51
2537
18.5
2318.63
Bartlomiej Heberla (2517)
10
Sean Winshand
46
40/46
2509
83.9
2301.17
Susanto Megaranto (2518)
11
Lazaro Bruzon Batista
45
33/45
2555
4.4
2355.33
Nikolas Theodorou (2611)
12
Igor Khenkin
44
34/44
2499
-0.6
2216.59
Dmitrij Kollars (2644)
13
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
42
24.5/42
2581
2.8
2514.33
Jorden Van Foreest (2697)
14
Ruslan Ponomariov
41
23/41
2631
5.8
2592.41
Anish Giri (2759)
15
Aryan Tari
39
31.5/39
2642
17.4
2405.54
Awonder Liang (2713)
* Streak has ended.
Among other notable players currently on a run is GM Daniil Dubov (76 games), but the former world rapid champion has dropped 37 points during this period. Others with shorter streaks include GMs Javokhir Sindarov on 37 games, Wei Yi on 32 games, and Hikaru Nakamura on 29 games.
Now the question is, Can anyone reach or surpass Zhou’s 158-game streak?
