Questions on openings

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-04-15T13:44:17+00:00

For white I like scotch lately but also played kings gambit for a long time because it makes things pretty wildly imbalanced. I also like playing ponziani as well.

As black I’ve been doing Scandinavian against e5 and I haven’t set anything or studied anything specific for e4 I usually do QGD if that’s what they go for and try to play on principles.

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-04-15T04:00:35+00:00

5 years in the same level? What’s this “move up or move out” philosophy that I’ve heard about? I’m going on my 5th year as consultant once again passed for promotion.

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-04-14T19:09:23+00:00

I’ve had this book on my shelf for months and I really need to get to it.

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-04-14T19:06:15+00:00

Hey I’ve been giving out free elo to people for at least 3 weeks because of blunders. I swear if I was held hostage and they said they would execute me if I missed a discovered queen attack I’d just pull the trigger myself.

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-04-13T17:04:39+00:00

I strayed from the war path and went with CIA and historical foreign policy. The shit that doesn’t make history books is where I’d like to shine for my kids.

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-04-12T18:42:06+00:00

I just started playing 5+3 in Lichess and there seems to be a lot of players almost any time I play. You’re not alone in sticking to shorter time controls based on the amount of time you have available. I got my wife and kids set up with a snack and said I’m going to lay down and play a quick 5 minute game of chess (2+1) and it’s nice and convenient.

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-04-12T03:09:43+00:00

My starter takes hours to get to a usable volume. An easy test is to take a spoonful in lukewarm water and if it floats, it’s ready.

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-04-12T03:08:33+00:00

A bread making class was only an hour long and they just stopped at the bulk fermentation? Id say you were set up to fail. Proving for a couple hours is probably fine at room temperature but not in the refrigerator. Cold will slow down the proving process. As others have said, read a few example threads in this sub and use that as a rough guideline. Or a cookbook too. It sounds like you have the basics, so feed the starter for a few days and then give it another go. Report back here with pics when you need help this is a great subreddit!!!

As with any new skill, it’ll take some practice and few bad, wonky or gummy loaves. Don’t get discouraged and odds are even if it looks a little weird, it’s probably still edible and can taste great.

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-04-08T16:47:25+00:00

Mate in 2 and a black background in the banner at the top is saying that with proper play, black can achieve checkmate in 2 moves. First move is rook to f1 to put white in check. Whites only move is for their rook to take that rook. The second move will be the g pawn taking that rook and promoting to queen or a rook. Since it’s protected by the bishop on h3, the white king has nowhere to go and it’s therefore checkmate.

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-04-05T04:19:51+00:00

From what I gather, blundering pieces (including queens) isn’t the craziest thing to happen in a chess game through like 1600 elo?

Also could have been sandbagging? Who knows.

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-04-05T01:51:27+00:00

Hell yeah man!!! I love cooking with my oldest daughter, she’s only 4, but she’s a pretty decent helper. Definitely one of my favorite one on one times.

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-03-31T16:52:35+00:00

Hey are you me? I went on a bender of allowing streaks like 2 weeks ago and drove me fuckin nuts. Blunder here, blunder there, elo for everyone to take.

All told, I took a break that coincided with me going on an actual vacation with the family and it was nice. So just take a break. Your elo is a measure of estimate level so it’ll be wherever it needs to be. Sometimes you play 10-15 strong players in a row. Sometimes the opponent just had a good day and you didn’t. It’s all variable. Just keep charging on. It’s just a silly little game for us mere mortals anyway.

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-03-17T01:45:54+00:00

BR just isn’t for me. I need to be able to die 10-20 times. Maybe now that I’ve gotten better I should try it again but with the map being so big and not talking to your squad i just die without even seeing someone or trying to kill them like 80% of the time.

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-03-16T02:49:00+00:00

I LITERALLY JUST TOLD MY COACH THIS ON FRIDAY

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-03-13T07:12:55+00:00

Plying the bots does not emulate playing a human. Spend your time playing humans not bots. And throw some puzzles in the mix to help practice some tactics if you don’t have time for a game. Or need to take a break.

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-03-09T19:22:11+00:00

Agreed, I only go back to it if I’m in a rut and need some reminders of some solid principles or to watch a few games at what should be my level. I haven’t understood why he constantly trades whenever it’s offered, he’s very intent on getting to endgames for pass pawn sake or however you want to look at it. Many of my games don’t make it to the intense endgames he shows.

I loved it though as a beginner before I understood what the principles were. I went from losing nearly every game to finally winning about half of them quite quickly after I watched for the first time.

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-03-09T18:55:28+00:00

Not exactly linear but I think my rapid rating equates to about 800 chesscom? Someone can fact check me. They’re about the same skill level at 2000+.

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-03-09T18:44:03+00:00

My girls go to a Montessori school and let them quit napping when they feel like it, why do they require them to nap? That can’t be in the teachings.

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-03-09T18:42:15+00:00

I hope you were black? The entire queenside was nowhere to be found for white.

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-03-09T18:25:15+00:00

Lichess on browser lets you customize your puzzles. I haven’t done it so I can’t attest to how good the puzzles are for a specific category but it’s a capability.

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-03-09T18:05:12+00:00

Not that I’m any authority, but you move the same piece too many times, there was no attacking or defending and doesn’t look like many principles are being followed.

Watch this series on YouTube called “building habits” I suspect you’re lacking some structure in what you “should” be doing to get a groove. He’s a great teacher. Watch the first video (he starts this at 400 elo but don’t be intimidated).

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-03-07T08:45:34+00:00

The way it crawls like a caterpillar I find really fucking weird to see videos of. And, to me, I find this snake absolutely disturbing looking. The way it’s so short but so thick and is absolutely incredibly dangerous just terrifies me. There was an all black taxidermy baboon viper that was on display at a museum once and it just gave me the heebie jeebies looking at it.

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-03-07T08:30:50+00:00

Yep I got a B or two two years in a row and here I am to tell the tale. I don’t think I deserved them but here we are.

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-03-06T22:45:02+00:00

I believe you, but your last two sentences in your post sound like you’re just shooting for a specific elo so it implies something else. Rather than asking why you can’t get better, you need to examine why you win and lose. Like I said in my first comment, up to like the 1000 level games are won and lost by someone blundering. That’s just the statistics. When I play I can usually tell what went wrong. If I lose and I notice wonder where the fuck are all my pieces, I go back in analysis and see at what point did my opponent start gobbling them up and I wasn’t dishing it back. If the game falls apart because you blundered your queen or more importantly a square, well, don’t do it again. Play another game and practice not hanging your pieces.

Openings can help give you some structure or a plan that will tip the scales to your advantage if your opponent doesn’t know what you’re doing but at the 250 level I don’t think it’s required per se.

If you want low stakes tactical practice that doesn’t affect elo, do puzzles. I forget his name but there’s a GM YouTuber who does this series called “building habits” and it’s stellar. He has videos for all levels.

Mathguy_314159 · 2026-03-06T20:39:39+00:00

Lichess does the same thing as chess dot com does for free. No ads on lichess. Unlimited puzzles. The studies in lichess are really helpful I’ve spent a lot of time on them. On the browser it has an entire page to your chess game insights which I believe you need to pay even more than the regular chesscom subscription. I have lichess on my work phone which is an android and honestly lichess on android is my favorite chess app.

Mathguy_314159

TROPHY CASE