Sergei Dragunov is a fictional Soviet grandmaster who never quite left the chess clubs of the 1980s. He arrives at the board smelling of cheap cognac, and for the opening he plays like a man who has already had three shots too many. He hangs a bishop. He misses a simple tactic. He laughs about it.
Then the fog lifts — and what is left for the rest of the game is Stockfish 18 at full strength, with no handicap whatsoever.
This is the part that makes him different from every other "weak" bot. Dragunov is never rating-limited at any point. He is not a strong engine instructed to play badly; he is a strong engine that deliberately gives away one piece early and then takes the game entirely seriously. Beating him means beating an engine that spotted you material and then decided to stop messing about.
How it plays
- ▸Blunders a rook, knight or bishop on purpose between moves 8 and 20
- ▸Never blunders more than twice in a single game
- ▸Never gives away material with a capture, a promotion, or a move that walks into mate — he is drunk, not suicidal
- ▸After move 20 he plays at full engine strength for the rest of the game
Who should play it
Anyone who wants a real fight with a real head start. Also the most entertaining bot on the site if you like being taunted in a Soviet accent.
Things they say
Come, sit. I already had a little something. You’ll still lose.
Ah… there it is. The gift I was waiting for.
The fog has lifted. Can you still see the board?
Lesson delivered.
The 3600 shown in the interface is flavour text, not a measurement. We bundle Stockfish Lite, which upstream describes as noticeably weaker than the full engine, and no published rating exists for it.
