Grandmaster Xu Zhihang: Floatingdream1, The Bullet Chess Specialist
Xu Zhihang, known across the online chess world by the evocative username Floatingdream1, is a FIDE-titled Grandmaster who has chosen an unusual stage for those talents: the bullet chess arena. While many Grandmasters treat one-minute chess as a sideshow, Xu has made it the headline act, with a peak Bullet rating of 3039 (2026-08-19) and a blitz peak that climbs even higher. The username suggests dreams drifting gently. The chess suggests anything but.
From Rated Debut to the 3000 Club
The rated career began quietly in December 2018, and within weeks the blitz rating had rocketed from the 1900s into the high 2700s. By September 2019, Xu played 630 blitz games in a single month, a volume most players would need a year (and a very forgiving mouse) to match. After years hovering between 2700 and 2900, the 2026 campaign broke the ceiling: a blitz peak of 3124 (2026-06-20) in June 2026, followed by the bullet breakthrough that August.
Consistency is part of the package. Xu has won 17 games in a row at peak form and survived losing streaks of 12 without floating away entirely. A tilt factor of just 12 marks one of the calmer temperaments in online chess, which is remarkable given how much time is spent staring down the final seconds.
Opening Repertoire: Prehistoric Names, Modern Results
As Black, the Scandinavian Defense is the trusty workhorse with over 500 blitz appearances, flanked by the Modern Defense and a sturdy French Defense. As White, the menu is broader: d4 and e4 in healthy rotation, the London System with its Poisoned Pawn adventures, and the Colle's gloriously named Rhamphorhynchus Variation, which sounds less like an opening and more like a pterodactyl that plays chess. In bullet, the repertoire turns delightfully eccentric, featuring the Australian Defense, the Amar Gambit, and the Czech Defense.
Style: The Endgame Machine That Doesn't Panic
The numbers sketch a precise portrait. Endgame frequency sits at 85.4%, and the average win lasts about 83 moves, so this is not a flashy 20-move miniature artist. It is a slow strangler. A comeback rate near 90% means blown positions get rehabilitated, and even after dropping a piece, Xu still wins almost half the time. There is a pragmatic streak too: with a 22% early resignation rate, Xu occasionally waves the towel when a dream curdles into a nightmare, sparing everyone the suffering.
Rivalries: One Wall, One Happy Hunting Ground
Every grinder has a nemesis. For Xu, that is Dmitrij Kollars, the most frequent opponent by a wide margin at 123 meetings, with a record of 40 wins, 65 losses, and 18 draws. Head, meet wall. Happily, there is balance: Artiom Samsonkin has been far kinder territory over 113 games, and Marchgin has also finished on the wrong side of the scoreboard more often than not.
Quirks and Curiosities
- Golden hour is 22:00, where the win rate soars past 56%. The 21:00 hour is cursed at under 39%, so dinner should be taken seriously.
- Mondays are statistically the best day to sit at Xu's board. Saturdays are the kindest day to face Xu.
- Only about 1% of games end with Xu delivering checkmate. Most opponents resign long before the rook arrives, and the rook is the favorite checking piece anyway.
- The longest winning streak stands at 17 games, a run that likely caused at least one opponent to check whether the site was broken.
- White scores 52.5% and Black 48.1%, a modest but real dividend for moving first.
Dreams may float. Pawns, as Xu proves game after game, do not have to.