A Candidate Master Built for Speed
David Zhurbinsky, known on the chess servers as CM_rui, is a FIDE Candidate Master who has turned online blitz into a full contact sport. While most players carefully choose a time control, David simply chose all of them, though his heart clearly belongs to blitz. With tens of thousands of games under his belt, he has become the kind of opponent who never sleeps, never blinks, and never stops pressing the clock.
- Blitz peak rating of 2842 (2026-08-25) while playing marathon sessions for years.
- Bullet rating that once touched 2943 (2026-08-20), proving his speed is just as terrifying as his stamina.
- A longest winning streak of 87 games, followed by a longest losing streak of 51, which suggests he is equally good at soaring and learning.
The Long Road to the Top
David's rating history reads like a mountaineering documentary. He started climbing in 2018 near 1850 blitz, spent 2020 grinding through the pandemic like a professional, and eventually reached the elite online classes. The chart below captures the wild, beautiful swing of his blitz career.
By 2026, he was regularly peaking above 2800 in blitz and 2900 in bullet. Not bad for a player who clearly prefers the 3-minute sprint over the 90-minute marathon. If there is a lesson in his trajectory, it is that volume plus fearlessness equals a very dangerous username.
An Opening Laboratory With No Permission Slip
David's repertoire is a beautiful mix of classical theory and absolute chaos. As White, he loves the Scandinavian Defense and has scored over 60 percent with it in blitz, with a monstrous 77 percent in 2022. As Black, he frequently navigates the sharp waters of the Sicilian Defense, especially the Accelerated Dragon, where he feels right at home in the Maroczy Bind.
When the clock gets really low, he happily reaches for the Amar Gambit and other bullet-only creations. His opening statistics show that he is just as comfortable in a French Defense as he is in a Blackburne Shilling Gambit. He is not here to play boring chess. He is here to make the board burst into flames.
The Rivalry Files
Every great online grinder has a cast of recurring victims, rivals, and occasional tormentors. David's most played opponent is Tom Haverford, who faced him 971 times and lost 920 of those games. That is not a rivalry. That is a subscription service.
A more balanced chapter involves Ilia Batorshyn, with 721 meetings and a nearly even scoreline that kept David honest. Another familiar name is Joseph Bellissimo, who shared more than 600 battles with David, proving that some chess friendships are built on mutual destruction.
Comeback Artist and First-Strike Specialist
David has a comeback rate of 82.48 percent, meaning he rarely stays down for long. Even after losing a piece, he still wins nearly half of his games, which is a nightmare statistic for anyone hoping to relax after gaining material. He also prefers to strike first, and when he lands the first check, he converts about 59 percent of the time.
His best time of day is 11:00, so if you meet him at noon, you are already too late. David plays a highly tactical style, wins about 53 percent of his White games and 51 percent of his Black games, and never, ever runs out of fighting spirit. He is a Candidate Master who plays like a man trying to become a legend.