16-Year-Old Player Defeats Tetris World Champion

Over the weekend, 16-year-old Joseph Saelee went on an incredible three-game tear to defeat the seven-time winner Jonas Neubauer at the Classic Tetris World Championship at Portland, Oregon.

"The kid played with pure heart, the most clutch Tetris that we've seen from anyone," Neubauer said after the competition (via Kotaku). "He just really had the ability, had the natural ability, and let it shine as bright as he could in his first tournament. [It's] truly an honor to pass the torch to the new generation of Tetris players."

For years, Jonas "the goat" Neubauer has been defeating various champions from Europe and Japanese Grand Masters. He was only defeated in Hong Kong in 2014 but now, Saelee managed to take down the champion with his strong focus. He defeated Neubauer in three straight games out of a best-of-five series.

Unlike many of the best players, the 16-year-old uses hyper-tapping, a technique that requires players to press the D-pad fast at the right intervals so they can move Tetris pieces in different directions without sacrificing speed. Usually, players just hold down the right or left D-pad. Saelee's technique requires more than 10 button presses a second to work, and it looks like his hard work to master it paid off.

"I got a little bit swept there," Neubauer admitted in the post-match interview.

Here's what Saelee said during the interview: "I don't know how to feel. I'm still recovering. It's absolutely a dream," said the high school student. "I came into this tournament just to qualify, just to meet all these great people, and to win, that's just amazing, I don't know what to say."

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