A Club Player Challenged a Grandmaster to 100 Bullet Games. Here's What You Can Steal From

5 min read

Reported by Chess.com News.

Josh Smith is an amateur player with a US Chess rating in the 1800s. He is set to play GM Daniil Dubov in a 100-game bullet match, with up to $20,000 on the line. But there is a catch: Dubov must win every single game to collect the full amount. That means one draw, one loss, one lucky flag, and Smith has done something no one would expect.

You do not need to follow professional chess to feel the weight of that setup. A club player is sitting down across from one of the strongest speed players alive, and the only thing he has to do is not lose 100 times in a row. That is a strange kind of pressure, and it is the exact pressure most beginners put on themselves every time they play someone higher rated.

Who Josh Smith Is and What This Match Actually Is

Josh Smith is not a titled player. He is an amateur with a US Chess rating in the 1800s. That puts him well above a beginner, but far below the professional level. He is the kind of player you might meet at a weekend tournament, someone who knows his openings, fights hard, and occasionally beats people he should not.

Daniil Dubov is a grandmaster. The match is 100 games of bullet, which means each player has very little time on the clock. The prize is up to $20,000, but Dubov only gets the full amount if he wins every single game. Any draw or loss, and the condition is broken. That is the entire story. There is no need to invent more.

The Trait Beginners Can Copy: Playing the Opponent, Not the Rating

Smith accepted a match where the odds are stacked against him. He did not need a guarantee of winning. He needed a chance to compete. That is the healthiest possible attitude for a club player. When you sit down against someone rated 400 points higher, your job is not to prove you are equal. Your job is to play the position in front of you.

Beginners lose games before they start because they decide the result in their head. They see a strong opponent and tighten up. They avoid sharp lines. They play passively and wait to be crushed. Smith is walking into a format where he will probably lose many games, but he is still walking in. Copy that. Play the board, not the name.

The Trait Beginners Should Not Copy: Bullet as a Learning Tool

Bullet is not where you build chess understanding. It is where you test instincts you already have. Dubov can play 100 bullet games because he has decades of pattern knowledge stored in his head. He sees a position and his hand moves before his conscious mind catches up. That speed comes from thousands of slow games, not from thousands of fast ones.

If you are under 1500 and you spend your study time playing bullet, you are practicing your mistakes at high speed. You will reinforce bad habits. You will learn to move fast without calculating. You will feel busy without getting better. Play bullet for fun if you want. Just do not confuse it with training.

Talent Is Not Why You Are Stuck

You might look at a grandmaster and think they were born with something you were not. That is a comfortable story because it lets you off the hook. But the real gap between you and a stronger player is almost always pattern recognition built through repetition. They have seen the same tactical motif hundreds of times. You have seen it a dozen.

Smith has a rating in the 1800s. That is not a gift. It is the result of playing games, losing games, and slowly learning what works. You can do the same thing. The reason you are stuck is not that you lack talent. It is that you have not yet put in the specific, focused repetitions that change how you see the board.

The Guru Section

Watching a 100-game bullet match is fun, but it will not fix your chess. You need someone to look at your position, not Dubov's. The Guru watches your actual game while you play. He explains in plain English why a move works or why it walks into a tactic. No jargon. No lectures. Just clear feedback on the board in front of you.

You do not need to play 100 games against a grandmaster to improve. You need one honest look at your own thinking. The Guru is free to start. Sit down, play a game, and let someone tell you what you missed. That is how the 1800s get built, one clear position at a time.

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