Sporting Kansas City striker Dejan Joveljic’s first toy may have been a soccer ball, but an early introduction to chess was also a formative moment for the 26-year-old. He learned how to play from his father and grandfather while he was a kid, and now it’s paid off. Not only is chess helping the Serbian striker score goals on the pitch due to outthinking defenders, but he’s also now risen to become the best chess soccer player on chess.com with a 2217 rating on the website.

Now, everyone will be able to challenge Joveljic on the website as he joins Christian Pulisic as the only soccer players to have bots alongside other NBA, NFL, MLB, and WNBA stars. It’s a moment that means a lot to Joveljic, who has honed his ability to play chess during the small amount of downtime that comes during the MLS season, focusing on blitz matches which take around three minutes to complete. There’s also a board in the Sporting Kansas City locker room where the players will face off in downtime, although unsurprisingly, Joveljic dominates those matches.

“I’m playing on a top professional level, and I like to play chess as well. There are a lot of players who like to play chess, but I am one of the best. So, definitely, my rating in Blitz online is very high,” Joveljic said. “My highest is 2700, and right now I’m 2500+. So on a good day, I’m 2500-plus, if I’m not playing well, I’m under. So yeah, it’s definitely something interesting when someone can be top in both professions.”

He hasn’t been able to play many tournaments in the Kansas City area due to those taking too much time; a standard tournament can take up to seven days to complete, but Joveljic would like to see more chess competition among athletes in America. The NFL already has chess tournaments among players, and he’d like to see each league have a tournament where the winners face off to determine the top chess player among athletes in America. Aside from that, he’d like to play Mohamed Salah and Magnus Carlsen if those opportunities presented themselves.

Chess has also had an impact on how Joveljic reads the game, and since 2023, only three players have scored more goals than his 51 in MLS play: Denis Bouanga, Lionel Messi, and Brian White. Joveljic helped lead the Los Angeles Galaxy to an MLS Cup title during this time, so it’s fair to say that his aggression is paying off on the pitch, where Sporting have also won two straight games. He has six goals so far this season to lead the team, but with Sporting still below the playoff line, there’s more work on the horizon.

“I am a striker, and I’m focused on attacking, and that’s how I play the game,” Joveljic said, describing his style of play. “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.” 

When asked to describe which piece on the board he sees himself as, while Joveljic didn’t want to view himself as the queen due to its power, his versatility did show as he would be a pawn on the chess board.

“I don’t want to say queen because queen is the strongest piece and it’s easy to play with the queen, but I like bishop, but let’s say the pawn,” Joveljic says. “Because at the end, when it comes to the last row, the eighth row, you can change it to any other piece. So yeah, let’s say pawn.”

While a striker should view themselves as being able to take down anything in their path like the queen, Joveljic has an interesting way to get there in comparison to others. Although when he gets to the last row, he didn’t rule out turning himself into a queen, but it’s about the versatility to choose based on what the game needs.

That’s a perfect analogy for what’s needed during the season, as even with their recent uptick in form, Sporting are eight points out of a playoff place and have scored the fewest goals in MLS play. If that’s going to change, even more will be needed from their star striker, but he’s up to the task.