Coach Chesswick
Constructive Feedback for Daniil “Duhless” Dubov
1. Snapshot of your current form
• Peak bullet rating: 3136 (2022-12-09)
• Peak blitz rating: 3186 (2024-11-01)
• Recent activity patterns:
2. What you are doing especially well
- Opening versatility and ambition. In your last fifty games you’ve tested the Sicilian Dragon, Benoni, and several QGD structures with both colours. This keeps opponents guessing and plays to your creative style.
- Tactical alertness. The sequence 22…Ng4+! 23.Kd4 e5+!! in your latest win against Ojasva Singh (see full game below) shows how quickly you spot forcing resources.
- Practical conversion of material advantage. When you are ahead, you generally simplify smoothly (e.g. trading into the winning rook-and-pawn ending in the same game).
3. Key areas to tighten up
- Time management. Four of your last five losses were on the clock, not the board. Even in drawn or better positions you are burning >60 % of your time in moves 1-20. A conscious 20-40-40 split (opening-middlegame-endgame) will help.
- Handling of quiet positions. In the Semi-Slav loss you pushed for complications (10.Ng5, 12.Qg4) without full coordination and drifted into a worse endgame. Inject strategic pauses—ask “Do I improve or force?” before launching pawn breaks.
- End-game technique vs. resilient defence. In several wins you needed three attempts to convert completely won positions. Studying classic rook-pawn endings and drilling on end-game fundamentals will save you energy and clock time.
4. Action plan
- Clock discipline drill. Play one 3 | 2 session daily where you force yourself to be at ≥50 % of the starting clock after move 15. Abort the game if you fail—negative reinforcement works!
- Structured opening repertoire. Keep the Dragon & Benoni, but build one solid backup (e.g. 1…e5 vs. e4 and the Slav vs. d4) for days when tactics aren’t flowing.
- End-game micro-training. 15 min/day on rook-and-pawn vs. rook, and bishop-vs-knight endings. Aim for 90 % accuracy on your favourite trainer in two weeks.
- Post-mortem habit. Right after each game, spend two minutes answering:
- “Where did I spend >20 seconds?”
- “Was that decision critical or habitual?”
5. Game spotlight – your most recent win
Notice how early piece activity turned into a lasting initiative and, crucially, you accelerated when the tactics resolved.
6. Quick reminders before each session
- Warm-up with three premove-free puzzles to get calculation running.
- Set a visible countdown: if your clock < 60 s with >5 pieces left, switch to increment mode—simplify or repeat until you rebuild time.
- When ahead materially, ask “What is the cleanest win?”—sometimes that is trading into a rook ending rather than hunting checkmate.
7. Final words
Your creativity and fighting spirit already put you in the 3100-range online. By adding disciplined clock usage and a touch more end-game polish, you will convert more of those winning positions and break the next rating ceiling. Keep the fire on the board—just leave a few seconds on the clock!