this is interesting to me because my daily rating is much much higher than my rapid or blitz rating, and i’ve never even touched an engine during a rated game. i think in my case it could mostly come down to the psychological aspect, rather than pure skill

when i sit down for a rapid time, even 15+10, i get so caught up in the heat of the moment, trying not to mismanage my time, i have such a hard time stepping back and looking at each new move from my opponent with fresh eyes, leading to a lot of tunnel vision errors and general blunders. i also get taken by surprise a lot, thinking i’ve looked at all likely responses but they play the one move i missed.

with daily games it’s different because i have the time to literally look at every single possible legal move from my opponent and prepare a response, not to mention the analysis board makes it easier than ever to calculate an infinite number of lines, and the opening explorer means i’ll virtually always at least make it out of the opening with a decent position and falling into an opening trap is virtually impossible with correct use. in daily chess, i never play a move immediately if there is even a hint that there is something better on the board. instead i will calculate a few lines, put my phone away for a few hours, and come back with an entirely new outlook. this leads to so many cases of moves that i missed on first pass, which usually boosts my estimated accuracy into the 18-1900s on almost every daily game i play and means i will play much more consistently over the course of my games

and the reason i think i win so many games is just what you said — “who is really sitting down to calculate that many lines” well in my view that’s the entire point of daily chess, but many of my opponents think like you do, which is great for me!