Daniil Dubov became an FM in 2008, an IM in 2010 and a GM on 28 March 2011, aged 14 years 11 months and 14 days. GM Dubov is a rising young Russian star who has played with great consistency since he commenced playing competition. He was previously coached by GM Sergey Dolmatov. His current coach is GM Sergei Shipov *, who described Dubov’s style as being akin to that of Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian. **Championships
Dubov has an impressive array of age-based competition results under his belt, frequently fighting above his “weight” in a manner reminiscent of Teimour Radjabov. Starting with 3rd place at the U10 Championship of Russia in 2006 and =2nd in the European U10 championship 2006, he came =3rd at the Moscow U16 Open in 2006, 2nd at the Moscow U16 in 2007, =4th in the Moscow U18 Championship, was runner-up on count back in the U12 European Championship in 2008 behind co-leader, the recently retired Kiprian Berbatov, and runner up at the U16 Russian Championship of 2009.
At the 12th European Individual Championship (2011), he scored 6/11 against 9 GMs and an IM to gain his 3rd GM norm (details of other norms below) and in the following year, he stunned the field to come =1st (2nd on tiebreak) in the Russian Chess Championships Higher League (2012) with 7.5/11 to qualify for the Russian Superfinals (2012) in which, at his first attempt, he scored a highly creditable 4/9 (-1 =8), only a point behind the six co-leaders in a low scoring contest; it also pushed his live rating to above 2600 for the first time.
Tournaments
At the age of ten, Dubov played in the Moscow Team Championships of 2006, recording his first win against an international master, Aleksei Kireev. He competed at the Aeroflot Tournament in the C Division in 2007, scoring 6/9. He scored 5/9 at the Moscow Summer Open 2007. In 2008, Dubov came 2nd with 8/11 in the Black Sea Coast Trophy International Open at the Eforie Nord and =3rd at the David Bronstein Memorial 2008 Open. His 5/9 at the 2009 Aeroflot Open A2 while still 12 years old won him his 1st IM norm. His second IM norm followed when he won the 7th Vanya Somov Memorial World’s Youth Stars competition ahead of a galaxy of talented young stars including GM Aleksandr Shimanov. He bagged his 3rd IM norm the same year when he scored 5/9 in the World Chess Tour - 4th GM Tournament when he secured a draw against former Champion of Azerbaijan, GM Rufat Bagirov , in the last round, also registering his first win against a GM - Rashid Ziatdinov. After coming =4th in the Moscow Championship of 2010 with 7/9, he scored 6/9 against a powerful field in the 14th Voronezh 2010 Masters, with an even score against 6 GMs (+1 -1 =4) and defeating the rest of his opponents to win his 1st GM norm. His 6/9 at the 2nd International Chess Tournament of Rethymno in Greece was followed by 5/9 against 9 GMs in the 2011 Aeroflot Open 5/9 rated between 2621 and 2689, a feat which earned him his 2nd GM norm. His 3rd GM norm came with the abovementioned positive 6/11 result in the European Individual Championship of 2011 against opponents that included nine grandmasters, all rated over 2600.
Dubov started 2012 by scoring 6.5/9 at the Moscow Open, placing =4th, and soon after scored 4.5/9 at the Aeroflot Open (2012). He followed up with some excellent results in the 2012 Moscow Championship where he came 2nd with 7/9 (including a win over the tournament leader former U18 World Champion Ivan Popov). In January 2013, he placed outright 5th at the Tata Steel (Group B) (2013) with 7.5/13.
Team events
In 2009, Dubov won a bronze medal playing board 2 for the gold medal winning Russian team at the 8th World U16 Olympiad in Akhisar in Turkey and in the 2011 edition of this event held in Kocaeli (also in Turkey), won a bronze on the top board with his team again taking gold. In the Russian Premier League of 2012, Dubov won bronze playing board 3 for Navigator Moscow, which placed 8th - he played 7 games for a +3 =3 -1 result, stacking up a TPR of 2683. In addition, he scored 4.5/7 in the Russian Team Championships (2012), including a victory over Cuban super-GM Leinier Dominguez Perez.
Rapid
An expert rapid player at an early age, Dubov won the U10 rapid chess championship of Russia in 2005, was runner-up in the same event in 2006, second in the European U10 rapid chess championship of 2006, second in the European U12 rapid chess championship in 2008 and champion of Moscow at the U18 lightning tournament in 2008. He also won the 2011 Moscow Rapid. His campaign in the rejigged Aeroflot Rapid Open (2013) was auspicious, scoring 6.5/9 in the main rapid, albeit losing the playoff for a place in the final to Abhijeet Gupta, while scoring 12.5/18 (=12th) in the blitz event picking up 70 blitz points.
Ratings and rankings
<Classical> Dubov’s standard rating as of 1 May 2013 was 2622, his highest rating so far, making him the top ranked U18 player in Russia and the 3rd ranked U18 player in the world;
<Rapid> 2584 (outside the top 100); and
<Blitz> 2655 (world #82).
Sources and references
* Interview by Ipatov with Dubov held in December 2011: http://www.chessdom.com/interview-w... ** Shipov: "Daniil was initially a very solid, positional player in Petrosian’s style, but our common goal is to develop him into a truly universal player.": http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp...
