Sangeet Dabhi (Sangeet38)
Sangeet Dabhi, known on the chessboard as Sangeet38, is proof that online chess rewards the relentlessly curious. Since his first recorded games in late 2022, he has transformed from a 1700s hopeful into a player who routinely touches the upper 2600s in fast time controls. His rise has been fueled by an astonishing volume of games, a deep loyalty to a few favorite openings, and a comeback rate that borders on the supernatural.
His Blitz journey tells the story best, climbing steadily from around 1750 to a peak above 2600 in barely three years:
The Rapid Renaissance
While most of Dabhi's mileage comes in Blitz and Bullet, Rapid is where he looks like a different animal. He debuted in Rapid around 2000 in April 2025 and rocketed to a peak of 2484 (2025-10-24) by October of the same year. His September 2025 was flawless: 22 games, 22 wins, zero draws, zero losses.
Overall his Rapid record stands at 71 wins against just 19 losses, a strength-adjusted win rate near 78 percent. If you want to see Sangeet Dabhi at his most dangerous, give him a Rapid time control and plenty of board to work with.
Openings and Style
Dabhi is a creature of habit. As Black he leans heavily on the Caro-Kann Defense, playing it more than 1,000 times across his career, with the Exchange Variation and the Panov Attack as his favorite battlegrounds. As White he prefers the quiet but venomous Réti Opening (1.Nf3), occasionally mixing in 1.e4 and a dash of the Sicilian Defense from either side of the board.
A typical Dabhi setup with the black pieces in the Caro-Kann Exchange might look like this:
His style is built for the long game. Endgames appear in 86 percent of his games, and his wins average around 77 moves. He grinds, he checks, and he never stops. His comeback rate reads like a typo at 93.34 percent, and he still wins 42.3 percent of games after losing a piece. Dabhi is the player who leaves the building only to walk back in through the window.
Rivals and Rivalries
Every hero needs a supervillain, and for Dabhi that villain goes by the name LadyCockroach. In 70 meetings, ladycockroach holds a dominant 56 to 12 edge, a chapter of the rivalry Dabhi is surely trying to rewrite. Then there is Jesse Zafirakos, who has beaten him 29 times without a single reply from Dabhi. Some rivalries are about greatness; some are about therapy.
He has fared a little better against TheoneandonlyDaksh, though the head to head still favors daksh 27 wins to 10. With foes like these, every victory over a familiar name feels like a small championship.
By the Numbers
- Longest winning streak: 27 games. Longest losing streak: 30 games. The man knows both ecstasy and heartbreak.
- His favorite hour to play is 16:00, when his win rate jumps to 52 percent.
- He has lost 1,574 games on time but won 841 the same way, proof that the clock is both his enemy and his accomplice.
- His most common checking piece is the rook, fitting for a player who loves to squeeze opponents in endgames.
- He wins by checkmate 885 times and by resignation 1,247 times, so opponents often see the writing on the wall.