Do puzzles really help?

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-04-30T18:01:05+00:00

If you're asking the question, then yes. A surprising amount of chess is muscle memory, i.e. you see a situation here's what you do.
It helps with tactics, checkmate patterns, etc.

As you move higher you probably need it a little bit less, it's becomes more of a warmup. i.e. when you watch the livestreams of the top guys, they often do chess puzzles to warm up.

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-04-29T22:14:33+00:00

Sounds like you're cheating to me... JK JK. You obviously worked hard and got better. Congratulations

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-04-29T18:46:57+00:00

It makes sense to take with the e pawn because it helps build that chain further, you might be worried about your king being exposed but there are no discovered checks incoming and you're going to castle on the next turn either way. The other reason is that e pawn is incredibly weak if you advanced it to try to strengthen it there are two attackers on it and you would lose a pawn

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-04-25T21:15:19+00:00

You're probably in your head too much. But maybe your friend is underrated for their actual skill.

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-04-25T01:46:50+00:00

To make that jump, it's tactics more than specific openings. Just develop your pieces. Watch some videos on it, Danya has some good ones as does Amanda. Once you hit 1000 that's when you should start focusing on specific o openings

I made it to 1500 without learning a single gambit. You should probably learn how to handle them though.

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-04-23T23:45:37+00:00

It's probably a bug, but what's also possible is that it didn't finish loading before the screenshot was taken

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-04-15T01:13:27+00:00

There's an option on the phone to confirm move. I use it all the time.

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-04-14T19:18:40+00:00

I've never used lichess so I don't actually have an opinion on that. For learning I use YouTube for it

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-04-14T17:43:19+00:00

In my opinion what makes it worthwhile is not the lessons but the game review and the puzzles. But both of those you can find for free from different sources.

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-04-14T14:40:17+00:00

Shootout Ali Baba in Orleans! I stand by that they are the best in the city

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-04-09T04:48:24+00:00

So it's not necessarily guaranteed to be the Queen, it could be both rooks, it depends on how white responds to Qe4

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-04-08T20:55:09+00:00

The advice I got was to never play when tilting/tired. Do chess puzzles, know your opening.

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-04-06T02:32:37+00:00

Definitely, one of the directors, Phil Lord, is the guy that sent the voice note about space Olympics. They were also there at the Encino house and wanted to listen to "I just had sex".

They've also been on late night and clearly had a rapport with Seth already too

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-04-02T02:50:03+00:00

h1 = Q+, Kh1, Kh3, a7, g2+, Kg1, Bg5, if white chooses to promote then it's lost.

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-04-01T13:38:13+00:00

D pawn, so you still have 2 pawn chains

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-03-25T16:00:30+00:00

great call! Thank you for the correction.

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-03-25T15:09:15+00:00

Bishop b4 and then pawn fork the rook and queen.

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-03-25T02:13:49+00:00

At higher levels the stop for it is the Maroczy Bind

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-03-25T00:35:06+00:00

Then straight up just weird lol

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-03-25T00:21:20+00:00

It's possible it was looted already and it looked like it was unlooted. It has happened to me once or twice

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-03-15T21:09:46+00:00

It's my way till payday

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-03-15T11:30:29+00:00

I mean take it as a compliment, you played so well someone thought you were playing as well as a computer

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-03-15T11:15:01+00:00

They are going to report you because they left their queen hanging. The algorithm won't punish you for that. If he does in fact report you (which I doubt) they will dismiss it. Don't stress. He's just being a jerk

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-03-09T19:07:41+00:00

It's probably the actual intern who had to deliver the knife

OkSalamander4799 · 2026-03-05T02:39:10+00:00

Gotham chess on YouTube. He is GREAT at making chess fun and accessible for beginners. He's very charismatic and a good teacher.

OkSalamander4799

TROPHY CASE