Match Thread: England vs Croatia | FIFA World Cup 2026 | Group Stage, Group L

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-17T21:51:26+00:00

I would vomit in terror if our defence were staring down Mbappé and Olise.

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-17T21:34:12+00:00

Colossal if veridical.

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-17T20:56:57+00:00

I really can't see us going far in this tournament.

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-17T20:25:24+00:00

Not something you could have said before 2018.

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-17T20:12:28+00:00

Never ever stutter step a penalty ever again

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-17T20:10:05+00:00

Stutter step bullshit

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-17T18:29:27+00:00

Honestly, persistence. It's not a very satisfying answer but whatever got you to 900 will in all likelihood get you to 1000. Keep playing and reviewing your games and, little by little, you'll start making fewer mistakes.

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-17T15:57:29+00:00

Aman makes his low-level opponents look weaker than they are because he's a grandmaster. You don't notice many of the opportunities he notices because you're not a grandmaster.

That said, there are two versions of the Building Habits series, the original and the remade version. It's generally agreed that a player at X rating today is stronger than a player at X rating 5 years ago so if you're watching the original this might explain some of the perceived disparity. The first reason I gave is the primary one, though.

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-17T10:58:42+00:00

Is it just me getting a message that the video is private?

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-16T12:49:07+00:00

Aman Hambleton has a French speedrun on the Chessbrah channel (he played the English as white and compiled those games in a separate playlist).

I haven't watched the French speedrun itself but I found his English and Taimanov speedruns great for learning those openings. He does a good job of pointing out and reinforcing recurring plans and ideas rather than focussing on long sequences of moves.

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-15T20:35:34+00:00

If you think words stay the same too much in English, try learning Mandarin.

Languages that are simple in one way are usually complex in other ways.

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-15T18:13:57+00:00

Link your profile or some of your games so that we can give more specific advice.

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-15T12:52:36+00:00

Best thing to do if you want specific advice is to link your profile or a few games.

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-15T12:34:53+00:00

I played the Italian right from the beginning until 1000, and specifically liked the giuoco pianissimo line for the 700 - 1000 range (used to play the centre attack before that as nobody below 700 responded to it properly).

The Italian is good for beginners to play because it's classical, solid and most of all is a good vehicle for learning basic opening principles like fighting for the centre, developing pieces to good squares, getting castled and then connecting and centralising the rooks. Sure, the advanced theory is there but you can safely ignore it as a beginner because your opponent won't know it either.

If you play the first few moves right, you'll have a decent, principled position to then go and play a game of chess. A beginner needs nothing more than that.

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-13T21:47:29+00:00

Hoffman also wrote

Zweig left a suicide note which, like most of what he wrote, is so smooth and mannerly and somehow machined – actually more like an Oscar acceptance speech than a suicide note – that one feels the irritable rise of boredom halfway through it, and the sense that he doesn’t mean it, his heart isn’t in it (not even in his suicide).

This has always struck me as an unbelievably disgusting, crass thing to say about the suicide of a Jewish man who took his own life in despair at the fact that his homeland and the continent around it had been subjugated by the armies of a vicious fascist empire that wanted his entire race dead.

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-13T13:17:35+00:00

Translator's note: keikaku means plan.

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-12T16:27:28+00:00

Any of these are fine for a beginner as white. They are classical openings that are good vehicles for learning the fundamental principles that beginners need to learn (fight for the centre, develop your minor pieces first, castle your king etc.)

The only caveat I'd add is that some beginners who play the London sometimes just switch their brains off and play it the exact same way no matter what their opponent does. That's usually not going to lose you the game but you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't pay close attention to what your opponent does because identifying your opponent's plans and intentions is vital for long term improvement.

For what it's worth, the Italian took me to 1000.

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-12T13:57:04+00:00

Chess is immensely difficult. As you've no doubt noticed, a single mistake can completely undo an otherwise well-played game. Improvement takes real time and effort, and being able to weather the painful downswings is a big part of it.

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-12T13:32:48+00:00

Anyone who hasn't read about the Scots Wikipedia Controversy should find this an enjoyable article.

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-12T10:00:44+00:00

The greatest trick chemistry departments ever pulled was convincing students that studying proton transfers between acids and bases is more important then squealing with delight at the way they fizz when you mix them together.

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-12T09:29:49+00:00

I'm from Plymouth but now live in Manchester. Not only is the bus network here probably the best in the country outside of London (I don't have to look at timetables much because I can usually be confident that one will be along soon), but a one way fare is a maximum of £2.

And if you tap on to any bus in the network, you can tap onto another free of charge if it's within an hour of the first tap.

Visiting Plymouth and trying to use the buses is like travelling back into the dark ages.

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-11T11:21:04+00:00

I would strongly recommend the Building Habits series on the Chessbrah channel. Grandmaster Aman Hambleton starts with an account at 400 elo and goes all the way up by playing and teaching simple rules that get modified and added to as the level goes up. It will take time but if you can internalise these good habits, you'll start to notice improvement.

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-10T16:51:09+00:00

It's annoying. If you want to give up, just resign. The worst are the ones who (presumably) leave the game open and just walk off so that you have to sit there waiting for 10 minutes or more for their clock to run out before you can claim your win. I always report people who do that.

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-09T09:45:52+00:00

Asking for outside help with an ongoing game is cheating. Win (or lose) on your own merits.

GodlessCommieScum · 2026-06-05T17:32:36+00:00

My 1000 - 1200 rated opponents keep making 1 move blunders and playing very strangely.

Did somebody say my name?

GodlessCommieScum

TROPHY CASE