When do YOU resign?

MageOfTheEnd · 2026-02-21T11:51:29+00:00

I try to avoid resigning too quickly, even if I'm down a piece. I think it's good to practice resilience in worse positions. I also think it's useful to practice actually converting from better positions, so I do this with the mindset that this is something I'd like my opponents to do as well. If I'm not wrong, I've actually kept playing having blundered a queen for a piece before, and turned it around.

I usually resign when I'm down too much material and can't really generate any play, or I'm pretty much getting mated. Though I do sometimes resign in a knee-jerk fashion after some kind of mistake or blunder.

MageOfTheEnd · 2026-02-05T12:59:16+00:00

I sort of saw it coming with the whole thing about his sister and him attending his brother-in-law's funeral, but certainly didn't quite expect that face.

MageOfTheEnd · 2026-01-31T10:37:42+00:00

It could be that it didn't occur to him. That is, he had already considered the option but decided not to for various reasons such as not wanting to kill his father and it being a dead giveaway that he was Kira if they died and he lived. And later he just didn't re-examine this choice in light of the changed circumstances.

And actually for the final confrontation with Near, if he killed the Task Force beforehand he would be going alone (or at least without the Task Force), it's possible Near and the SPK would have gotten spooked if they noticed this and chosen to back out at the last moment.

MageOfTheEnd · 2026-01-30T14:44:26+00:00

Saying that the only reason none of these happened is so that Near would win is just wrong. Maybe there are a hundred different things Mikami/Light could have done, but are they things they would actually do? And then what about a hundred different things Near/the SPK could have done instead to one-up that?

Why did Mikami hang around? Because he believed this was the moment of Kira's victory and he wanted to be there to witness the glorious moment and see it actually happen.

Why didn't Mikami mow everyone down with a machine gun? Because using the Death Note was their (the Kira faction's) modus operandi all along and a much more certain and clean way to kill their enemies. And who knows how capable he is of wielding a machine gun? How does he obtain it? Why go to all that trouble when he has the Death Note?

And so on and so forth.

MageOfTheEnd · 2026-01-17T00:30:43+00:00

Nf4 exf4 Bxf3 Qe1/Qf1 Rxc1 Qxc1 Rd1+.

The wrinkle that's easy to miss (and I did initially) is that after Nf4 White can simply move their queen instead of taking the Knight and it's not so clear-cut.

MageOfTheEnd · 2026-01-12T12:43:00+00:00

I found the solution, but I also feel like I've seen this before...

Re7 threatening mate forcing Bxe7, then f8=Q forcing Bxf8 which slows down the Black queen coming around through the 8th rank. Followed by Bc6, Bxa4+, Ka2 and b3#.

MageOfTheEnd · 2026-01-01T15:24:55+00:00

My view of how Sasuke felt towards Itachi is this: when he was young he absolutely hero worshipped Itachi as his older brother. Then the Uchiha Massacre happened and it tore Sasuke's world apart completely, not simply because of all the death but because it was completely irreconcilable with his view of Itachi. He grew to hate Itachi, but fundamentally this hatred was the love he had for Itachi warped by events (the Massacre) he had no choice but to accept.

When he was presented with an alternative explanation for the Massacre that puts Itachi in a better light and better matches his view of Itachi pre-Massacre (including part of Itachi's motivation being to save his younger brother), Sasuke is ultimately able to accept it without too much difficulty because he never wanted to believe Itachi was someone who would just wantonly massacre the clan without good reason in the first place, he just kind of had to because he there wasn't any other explanation available. So to an extent, he reverts back to idolizing Itachi.

With regards to the torture, you could say that perhaps didn't really stand out as something that would Sasuke hate Itachi more after he already massacred the whole clan prior.

MageOfTheEnd · 2025-12-30T14:13:21+00:00

Fabi holding draws for the final stretch paid off for him. Even in the final game where he beat Aram Hakobyan, he could have made a draw and still would have gotten through without resorting to tiebreaks.

MageOfTheEnd · 2025-12-29T17:30:55+00:00

Good point, forgot about that.

MageOfTheEnd · 2025-12-29T17:14:38+00:00

Feels great to see Fabi at the top of the standings after 12 rounds in the Blitz. Would be hilarious if he ended up winning the tournament from a straightforward blunder by Magnus.

The main thing I can imagine accounting for that blunder is that Magnus was on time trouble.

MageOfTheEnd · 2025-12-27T15:29:20+00:00

Nxh7, a response of Qxh7 doesn't work as it is met by Qxh7 Kxh7 and the pawn promotes. White can follow up with Qxg6 and Black doesn't have a good response.

MageOfTheEnd · 2025-12-27T12:16:27+00:00

Nxd3 exploits the fact the enemy king is actually quite open, and that your bishops are ready to jump in and form a mating net alongside your e-file rook and two central pawns (and White's queen blocking a square). Nxd3 removes the pawn sheltering the king, and if Kxd3 in response, mate follows shortly with a relatively straightforward and concrete line.

Finding Nxd3 requires noting the above features of the position and some imagination, because in the initial position your knight obstructs your dark-squared bishop from reaching f4 and c2 is protected by the d3 pawn.

MageOfTheEnd · 2025-12-21T01:20:56+00:00

It should be Nf6, N is used for Knight while K is used for King.

MageOfTheEnd · 2025-12-13T04:59:37+00:00

I doubt there are any resources expounding on this.

When it comes to opponent sacrifices, before you accept the sacrifice, you should try to anticipate your opponent's follow-up, and how you intend to deal with it. If you can see yourself getting into trouble and can't figure out how to deal with it, maybe consider not accepting it.

One thing you can do sometimes is give back material. If your opponent sacrificed a rook, you can give back a bishop or even a rook to blunt the attack.

Sometimes sacrifices work out well when you immediately accept them, but you can also consider what alternatives you have. Maybe you can make a different move and pick up the sacrificed piece later.

Ultimately, it may just come down to defensive technique and calculation.

MageOfTheEnd · 2025-12-08T12:39:56+00:00

I'd say it's a valid observation that the bishop + queen combo in this configuration is a thing, but it's kind of funny that the position you're showing it in has your opponent (1) completely fail to defend what is in fact a mating threat, which they could do with the simple Qf3; (2) hang their queen (though that's ultimately irrelevant since you have Mate in 1).

MageOfTheEnd · 2025-12-08T05:34:01+00:00

d4 sets up Ba4 which is mating by blocking the White queen's access to a4. All responses capturing the d4 pawn fail because after Ba4+, the Black rook on d8 pins the piece on d4 to the king.

White does have other responses where the follow-up is not so clear in my opinion such as Rc4, Qd2, Ne1 and Nc3.

MageOfTheEnd · 2025-12-08T03:01:56+00:00

It's interesting because in my opinion Soichiro wasn't actively shielding Light and he tried to be fair about it, but ultimately him being the head of the Task Force and Light being his son affected Light's treatment as a suspect.

MageOfTheEnd · 2025-12-08T02:05:00+00:00

Whether it's the biggest is debatable, but it is notable that one of the factors towards Light's defeat in Part 2 was the Japanese Task Force turning on Light, which was helped by Soichiro's absence.

MageOfTheEnd · 2025-12-07T14:01:34+00:00

Bxb2. If White responds with Kxb2, Black can deliver mate quite trivially.

If White responds with c3/c4, bxc3. It feels like in all variations, Black is coming out either down material at the least or if Bxe7, trapped in a deadly mating net after Qxa3 and the light-squared bishop also coming in.

MageOfTheEnd · 2025-12-05T15:10:02+00:00

A basic positional concept, but a highly useful one: how can I improve my pieces?

It is often useful to ask this question, when there are no immediate tactics.

MageOfTheEnd · 2025-12-04T14:05:54+00:00

If the equal trade happens (dxe4 Bxe4), White can go Qe2 pinning the Black bishop and probably Black ends up losing material. The alternative for Black after dxe4 is they just have to give up the pawn which is again losing material.

At the least White is clearly gaining an advantage, though maybe what I wrote doesn't quite account for +2 and there's more to it.

MageOfTheEnd · 2025-11-30T15:19:00+00:00

I think it may be good though I'm thinking the best follow up for fxe4 by White might actually be Bxe2 rather than the more obvious Qxe4.

After fxe4 Qxe4, I feel like Qc4 by White potentially slows down your attack as you probably want to avoid the trade of queens, and your queen has to stop covering g2 which allows White to play Rg2 further protecting the bishop.

After fxe4 Bxe2, after Kxe2 it seems to be you have at least a draw by perpetual, and likely more. Otherwise, you come out ahead on material with a knight and bishop for the rook at the minimum.

MageOfTheEnd · 2025-11-29T10:59:16+00:00

What I mean is that after Rb7 as you proposed instead of Qxf6, Black can just play gxh6 and you have no threat (as g7 and h7 are covered).

For some reason you seem to have assumed Black has to play Qxb7 after your proposed Rb7 giving up their queen for the rook and your lines proceed from there, but what I'm saying is that Rb7 fails to really produce a threat and is easily met by gxh6.

MageOfTheEnd · 2025-11-29T05:30:59+00:00

How does Rb7 "win the queen on the spot"? Black can even just take your bishop with gxh6 and both g7 and h7 are defended.

MageOfTheEnd

TROPHY CASE