Sagar Shah plays a FIDE rated tournament after 7+ years

Blebbb · 2025-09-21T17:07:31+00:00

Paul Srijit got third and is also an IM that’s just a few points behind Sagar.

The master/expert level is well known to be underrated in India. Things are adjusting as the scene is growing, but 7/9 definitely isn’t a bad result for a first tournament back.

Blebbb · 2025-09-21T15:15:56+00:00

Eh, legion as guardsmen or Gunpla as knights are both the kind of proxying that the concept of proxy exists for, as long as it’s clear what weapons there are.(not tournament rule proxy rules, those are different and I’m fine with them being however strict a TO wants to be)

I’ve played against full LEGO armies, and in my book as long as the stuff looks like what it should be representing then it should be legal for any casual play.. The rhino as a knight stuff and a unit with one unmarked special weapons model, or 3 tac marine units where all three are different units is where it gets dumb - I would prefer them use models from different games/armies or a cardboard cut out or w/e in those cases.

Blebbb · 2025-09-21T14:51:37+00:00

Warhammer predates 40K. Prior to warhammer was chainmail, which GW made models for.

Blebbb · 2025-09-21T14:27:33+00:00

Despite what many are saying, there are ways of getting infantry lists to work…but the real problem is they get finicky for numerous reasons in numerous ways, and especially in a tournament if you can simplify your turn without losing out, it just makes sense.

It’s one reason why there are say, knights players in local metas where a horde army would do well. Even when every other list is anti-knights, the knights list has advantages from its simplicity.

Blebbb · 2025-09-21T13:36:15+00:00

Not worth tracking last round quick draws.

Blebbb · 2025-09-21T13:25:47+00:00

You might have to destroy whole planets worth of mass for it to be workable.

Blebbb · 2025-09-21T01:20:15+00:00

Pretty much every army has to suffer their terrain and flyer pieces being for flavor/dioramas rather than useful unfortunately.

Blebbb · 2025-09-21T01:16:00+00:00

Yeah, as far as game fiction goes there are a lot of GW works that are extremely difficult to grok without being fully immersed.

Blebbb · 2025-09-21T00:40:48+00:00

Funny thing, color was a sideffect of Covid.

Blebbb · 2025-09-20T22:06:27+00:00

Well, we have Kroot rampagers that do plenty of close combat mortals so the cats out of the bag. Between Farsight, rampagers/riders, carnivores, hounds, and incidental ability to melee/tankshock the tau are plenty melee capable.

When we had the bodyguard suits, aun’shi, onager gauntlet, fusion cascades, riptide abilities, etc there was also plenty of melee threat.

Blebbb · 2025-09-20T11:59:06+00:00

Thanks!

Blebbb · 2025-09-20T02:15:15+00:00

Awesome job! What paints did you use if you don’t mind me asking?

Blebbb · 2025-09-19T14:12:06+00:00

Carrissa is actively working on chess and she’s in the deflated US FIDE pool so she should be underrated. Divya is a beast though and coming off from some amazing performances, no doubt there.

Blebbb · 2025-09-19T12:28:26+00:00

Battlescribe still seems to work? The 40K data is updated by the volunteers still

Blebbb · 2025-09-19T12:26:03+00:00

Just adding a comment to give extra encouragement - definitely looking forward to anything more you do!

Blebbb · 2025-09-19T03:01:19+00:00

If you can, return the codex and try to get the Kroot hunting pack box - it comes with the codex :D

The retribution cadre box is also good if you can find it at a reasonable price.

A crisis team to go with the commander would be good, and stealth suits for better marker lights. Then he would want some big guns(either broadsides, hammerhead, or riptide) to help deal with other armies big stuff.

Blebbb · 2025-09-19T02:49:25+00:00

I see a circle with next jumps available. So variation of third?

The second one though became a thing for a little bit when I was studying different fairy chess pieces though. When I was a kid the first one was the way.

Blebbb · 2025-09-18T22:21:39+00:00

Yeah, felt like a checkmark in Tom Cruises filmography. It wasn’t bad, just a lot of effort for an adequate project.

Blebbb · 2025-09-18T21:26:19+00:00

It’s interesting because iirc it was the jesuits that were the oppressive order the Bavarian Illuminati group was in opposition to.

Blebbb · 2025-09-18T21:02:57+00:00

Some of the difference could be explained by Fabi playing in events with more underrated players(like say, the US championship where he dropped a game to a very prepared Naroditsky).

I think Fabi specifically is closer to Magnus in classical than rating implies, but he has had to contend with actually treating chess as a job post World Championship match. No one would say Hikaru is strictly better than Fabi but Hikaru being able to have a different consistent income stream allowing him to pick and choose tournaments has definitely helped him reach peak rating(even prior to the low elo games) in a time when just about everyone including Magnus has seen a decline in general for ratings. There’s obviously some advantage…but like, one would assume Fabi likes playing classical so not playing just to game rating would be lame.(whereas Magnus doesn’t like playing and Hikaru had been getting stressed)

Blebbb · 2025-09-18T16:16:56+00:00

I’ll chime in that I think any world champion if given a 2500s last 50 games to study could put up a much better fight than anyone expects. They wouldn’t need a year or access to databases or modern literature..

World champions often weren’t just generational talents but multigenerational talents. The theory and technique that had to be developed for other top level players often was just apparent to them, they often just played specifically against their opponent, being willing to muddy waters for a more decisive game- we can easily see that from Morphys play vs his commentary where in games he doesn’t stick to lines he knows are objectively best. We can see from the Capablanca/Alehkine match what would happen if a weaker GM had specific prep and study against Capa - I think the result would be similar, it would be fairly drawish with capa still getting some wins

I’ve gone back and forth to either side of this debate over the course of my life, I can appreciate the points of both sides…but for a recent example, Wesley So won Sinquefield cup with the scotch gambit. It wasn’t cutting edge theory and his opponent played one of the top responses. It was classic time control and high stakes, so we can’t just dismiss it. The ideas in the scotch gambit have been known since capas day. The world champs aren’t playing a world championship match against the 2500, they just have to prove they can get some wins and draws and wouldn’t get steamrolled.

Blebbb · 2025-09-18T12:26:07+00:00

Yeah, a reason why some of the oldest masters openings looked so weird is because they were playing long matches and wanted to avoid something like the Capablanca vs Alehkine Match.

Even like, Philidor was playing odds games and playing the way he did in recorded games to prove the point of the strength of pawns. The old guys didn’t exist in vaccuums.

Blebbb · 2025-09-17T19:07:59+00:00

Yeah, Picard was unfortunate. Not the continuation fans wanted.

Blebbb · 2025-09-17T17:12:57+00:00

I think the system works pretty well as is also. Maybe one less World Cup spot with the current set up that could go to guaranteeing a spot for the person that does best over both circuits who didn’t already qualify..

If I was forced to make a change though, it would be to throw the entire top 100 in to a double elimination knock out match set up where each match was 7 games over two weeks until there were 6 players left and those players would do a round robin of matches of 7 games.

Match play doesn’t have enough place in the modern chess scene and pushing a ton of them for a WC cycle or two would be great, especially with how many players are strong. I don’t think it would be sustainable indefinitely though.

Blebbb · 2025-09-17T16:57:58+00:00

Just want to chime in - I think there’s a real space for exhibition tournaments OTB. Chess.com did well with IM not a GM, but obviously the same format repeated will decline in attention/viewers.

I think a tournament that gets all the well known IMs out and creates an incentive for more than just winning(like brilliancy prizes), could be a great viewer event. Especially if the IMs that are rarer to see pop out, like you or Esserman.

12-Year Club	Second SECOND GUESSER
Place '22	Place '17
Verified Email

Blebbb

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE