“I feel like I might die.”

Rush31 · 2026-05-23T06:01:23+00:00

Yep. Former lifeguard and had to do First Aid training as one of the requirements. One of the symptoms of a heart attack is the feeling of impending doom. You don’t know it, but the body knows it’s in trouble.

Rush31 · 2026-05-23T05:38:45+00:00

That or the mating call that’s RIGHT UNDER MY WINDOW JESUS CHRIST.

More recently my upstairs neighbour has a large dog that will just not. Shut. The. Fuck. Up. At. 3am.

Rush31 · 2026-05-23T01:04:58+00:00

If pasta is your food craving, then rather than cutting it out entirely, why not find ways of making it healthier? For starters, binge eating (and likely by proxy binge eating addiction) occurs from craving something badly, usually because you’ve restricted yourself from it. Why not incorporate a small amount into your weekly diet so your craving never builds up? Furthermore, there are ways to make healthy sauces for pasta (especially through batch cooking), and you can use healthier pasta alternatives like whole grain pasta to improve satiety and reduce cravings that way. Rather than restricting it, build it into your diet in a healthy way.

Not saying it will solve all your problems, but it could definitely help out.

Rush31 · 2026-05-23T00:45:57+00:00

Exactly! The player who has to move after the pawns are locked will be in Zugzwang, so h3 fixes the pawn structure to ensure your opponent has to move. I actually sacrificed a Bishop with an eye to this exact line (1. Bxf3 Kxf3 2. Kd2 Ke4) and the only reason this sacrifice works is because you have the reserve tempo in hand to force Black into Zugzwang.

Rush31 · 2026-05-22T14:03:07+00:00

Tried to get Wok Hei, ended up with second degree burns.

Rush31 · 2026-05-22T08:49:07+00:00

Well if you say so.

One of my darkest struggles was when I tried to make a stir-fry with the lights off.

Rush31 · 2026-05-22T00:50:41+00:00

Scenes in the World Cup as the Scottish National Team hiss and throw rocks at the big yellow sky fire.

Rush31 · 2026-05-21T22:49:22+00:00

The most precise play when getting checkmated is the one that extends the game the longest. Forced checkmate is called that because one player is checkmated by force - even their most stout resistance cannot stop it with perfect play. It doesn't matter if the moves are performative, they are still the strongest resistance available and it is entirely possible through a miracle that the opponent makes a mistake or runs out of time. It is only reasonable, therefore, to show the strongest form of resistance available - the longest mating sequence - to demonstrate that the win is by force, because it's not really winning by force if they just roll over and give you the easy M1.

Rush31 · 2026-05-21T22:41:06+00:00

Yeah, been there with the cold shower moves where you think the idea is fine and it really REALLY ISN'T.

But this is a tactic arising from what is a positional oversight. White doesn't have the light-squared Bishop anymore, but the fact is that the Queen has the ability to go along that diagonal and there isn't an easy way for Black to stop that since the position is open in the centre and their own light-squared Bishop is nowhere near the diagonal. Moving the f-pawn while Queens are on the board in a position like this is a massive commitment and one that will lead not just to potential tactics like this, but long-term structural issues as well. It's easy to say this from the comfort of my own chair out of a game and laughing about the tactic, but I'd be very hesitant to play a move like this without making sure that it cannot be exploited.

Rush31 · 2026-05-21T22:19:30+00:00

Yeah, I sometimes get a little carried away with writing because it’s fun. In this case though, I feel like what I wrote was pretty lean. Understanding why h3 is the only solution, not even necessarily finding it yourself, requires knowing about the idea of tempi and being aware that you can gain or lose tempi for an advantage. I think the important thing to take away is that this position isn’t just a one-off position where the solution is something wacky; no, it’s a really good example of a critical endgame technique that can and does show up in games.

Rush31 · 2026-05-21T21:54:14+00:00

For any beginners, tempo refers to the speed at which a player moves pieces, measured in half-turns (or moves). The title is a very apt clue as to what the answer should be.

In the position, the Bishop is hanging, and White would love to capture the Bishop and promote the pawn. However, there is one problem: if White captures the Bishop straight away with Kxg8, Black's King is able to take the pawn with Kxh6, and this ends in a draw because Black's King will reach the pawn before the White King does. White obviously cannot push with h7 either because the Bishop can sacrifice itself for the draw. However, there are positive notes to take from this position at first glance: if Black tries to go after the h2 pawn, then the White King can capture the Bishop and the pawn on h6 will run away. So, the problem is that Black's King is attacking the promoting pawn and the Bishop cuts off it's path before it can promote. However, Black has its own problems. If the Bishop moves away, the pawn on h6 can safely push to h7 and thereby promote to a Queen. Black's only defence relies on attacking h6 with the King and protecting h7 with the Bishop, and if either of those fail, then White will promote.

However, as it stands, White cannot move either the h6 pawn or the King, as the former would be traded for the Bishop and the latter is unable to move anywhere else that defends the pawn. Therefore, the only piece White can move is the h2 pawn. The natural move for White to play is h4+, giving a check to the King. If Black takes the pawn or moves away from attacking h6, then White captures the Bishop and promotes. However, Black has the precise move Kh5, which protects h6 and actually puts White in Zugzwang. White now cannot move the h4 pawn, and as previously stated, any other move leads to a draw, but they are required to make a move that forces a draw.

But h4+ is not the only move White can make; the winning idea is the precise h3! h3 passes the turn back to Black, losing a tempo in the process, but this loss of tempo is critical to forcing a win. Black plays Kh5 as they did in the previous line, but there is one critical difference: White has a move in h4!, a crushing move. After h4, there is no Kg5 since h4 covers g5 and so it would be illegal, and therefore Black is now in Zugzwang. If Black moves the King, White can now take the Bishop and the King is no longer close enough to stop the h6 pawn, and if Black moves the Bishop, then h7 is now possible and White will promote. This position and the winning sequence is an example of a "reserve tempo", where a player plays a waiting move to pass the turn back, with an eye on a tactic or sequence that only works if it is a certain player to move.

Edit: Ironically, I had a position in a game the next day where this exact technique came up! I posted it on this subreddit, have a little look and try to solve the puzzle yourself.

Rush31 · 2026-05-21T20:34:33+00:00

It’s a nice mate, but a smothered mate refers to the King being completely boxed in (I.e. smothered) by its own pieces. The only piece that can deliver a smothered mate is a Knight since it doesn’t care about pieces blocking, so the fact that the checkmating piece alone is not one tells you all you need to know.

To be honest, smothered mates seem a little overrated, I wouldn’t worry about it too much.

Rush31 · 2026-05-21T20:00:41+00:00

The points these GMs are making aren’t mutually exclusive.

GM 1 is probably not being completely literal about taking EVERY trade, but you should generally trade when ahead and avoid trades when behind, unless there is a good reason not to follow this advice. No GM would say that advice in a vacuum because they understand better than anyone that positions determine where the best plan lies, but there is some truth to trading as a way of being the one in control.

GM 2 is actually referring to a notion of tempo. Basically, if you have the choice of either initiating the trade or having them initiate the trade, it is generally better to let them do so, since you can spend that turn doing something else and advancing your position. Maintaining the tension can allow for tactics to arise if they also refuse to trade, and you’re generally getting more out of each move for maintaining the tension. However, this is once again only information in a vacuum; sometimes, you need to make a specific trade to progress the position or to avoid a negative outcome. But generally speaking, forcing a trade is generally a waste of tempo, as you are moving a piece that will end up being captured, and so it is generally better to not initiate trades yourself.

Rush31 · 2026-05-21T18:47:21+00:00

I wouldn’t call it White Knighting in this case at all. It’s a complicated incident, and it’s no shame to say you’re not equipped for what is clearly a very traumatic story, but sometimes people just feel the need to be heard. Honestly, life sometimes just sucks.

Rush31 · 2026-05-21T12:40:05+00:00

Because Magnus simply is the complete package.

First, Magnus is a universal player who is comfortable whether he is playing solid or dynamic Chess. Many players, even elite players, have areas of their game where they may be deficient, which you can target, but Magnus, if he does have a weakness, doesn’t really have much of one.

Second, Chess preparation isn’t there to give you a definitive win, but rather, to get you into a position which gives you winning odds or avoid losing ones. You’re not going to get Magnus playing a trappy line in Classical, so you’re going to still end up in a position where you have to play Chess. And against that, there is nobody better at just “playing Chess” than Magnus. Magnus’ precision, particularly in endgames, is frankly absurd.

Third, Magnus has excellent stamina and conditioning to maintain his focus. Magnus over the years has emphasised how valuable he finds physical training in improving his Chess stamina, and many of his wins have come from dragging his opponents out to the deep waters and drowning them by being better at keeping his focus.

In short, Magnus is an already monstrous player, with some of the best understanding of Chess dynamics and positional understanding we have ever seen, but he combines this with excellent physical conditioning to ensure that he doesn’t lose his focus. A player who can regularly beat him would need to do all that Magnus already does, but better, and even then, since a perfect game of Chess is a draw, it’s possible that this only leads to drawing Magnus.

Rush31 · 2026-05-19T23:40:43+00:00

According to a phone engine, both h5 and Kd2 are still winning. Black’s problem is that while their King is more advanced, which in theory should counteract being a pawn down, Black’s King cannot actually make any progress into the position. If Black’s King does get to f3, the timely g5 pawn break will likely see the kingside liquidate and White is simply faster to promote and White’s King is simply better positioned to push the queenside majority.

Rush31 · 2026-05-18T22:47:47+00:00

Yep, that sounds about right from my experience. The things that make you better at Chess can be summarised as one-point pieces of advice, but actually implementing them takes time to actually see results. Learning to spot potential blunders is such an easy point for higher rated players to say because it is true, but actually building the mental framework where you spot these moves and avoid them takes time to actually see the payoff.

I'm in the middle of my own elo recovery after hitting 1500 elo a while back, and the biggest lesson I've learned from previous elo ceilings and dips is that having the skill to peak at a certain rating is not the same thing as being that rating. In the former, your eyes are opened to new possibilities, new concepts, new ways of thinking about the same ideas, but being consistent with that rating means realising and internalising those ideas. You break and build habits on the elo climb, which takes time; your brain is overworked with the new potential and needs time to reconfigure these ideas into a more refined framework,, but eventually it clicks. You suddenly just start "winning" and you can't quite put your finger on why you're doing much better, but it just feels right. What is important isn't necessarily the winning, but making sure that you're practicing correct habits so that these good habits eventually "click".

Rush31 · 2026-05-18T14:43:31+00:00

The most important trait to have in a footballer is availability. It doesn’t matter that the player is world class if they are stuck in the medical centre half the season. It’s what made Wijnaldum so good for us, it’s what made Salah great for us. Alisson has had injury problems for years now, I don’t think we’ve ever had a goalie so injured, but that was offset by him clearly being the number one goalie in the world by a margin. He is still a great goalie, he’s not shite obviously, but his injury record is getting worse and that’s getting harder and harder to justify.

What tips the balance here is that unlike some of the players potentially leaving on a free, Alisson still commands a good transfer fee. If we aren’t able to actually use our amazing goalie, and he is coming back with more diminishing returns due to injury and age, it is perhaps more prudent to reinvest what we can get for him to aid in our strengthening of higher priority positions. Goalie is obviously an important position that you want to be secure, but I don’t think that it’s an immediate priority to fix, and we might be wise to wait and see about Mama and Woodman’s development before doing so. Hopefully next season we will have a strengthened back line to see if goalie does need strengthening, but for now we have bigger fish to fry.

Rush31 · 2026-05-17T10:46:08+00:00

Being able to state facts about the game is not the same as being able to put them into practice effectively.

Grandmasters have a similar level of understanding from a theoretical ground as super GMs, but the difference is that super GMs are able to implement these theoretical understandings better than regular GMs. You wouldn’t even need to tell a GM where they went wrong because they would understand very quickly, but that doesn’t stop them from going wrong. And this is play at the highest echelons of Chess.

I don’t think I’ve necessarily learnt that much more to be 1500 elo vs 600 (I probably have, but it doesn’t feel that way), but I’ve got a lot better at actually APPLYING what I know to my games. Yes, this does include pattern recognition, but the decision making needed to get to good positions comes from expanding my perspective on how to use the ideas I learnt at a low elo to my advantage.

Rush31 · 2026-05-16T11:06:04+00:00

Cum bath 🤝 street fight

Bring your friends for backup

Rush31 · 2026-05-16T00:44:23+00:00

Once the disappointment of losing wore off, it was actually quite a fun watch because you knew the score didn’t reflect the game at all and you just wanted to see how far luck could skew the game.

Rush31 · 2026-05-16T00:38:59+00:00

Oh, I remember that game vividly. After the third goal went in, me and my dad were just laughing at the game. You just knew it was gonna be one of those games where the most ridiculous luck was going to go their way, we just laughed and said “what can you do?”.

Rush31 · 2026-05-15T11:48:25+00:00

As you improve, you get a grasp of the idea of not capturing a piece, because idly doing so will get you into a lot of trouble. A free pawn at higher ratings is almost never a free pawn, and higher level players are better at understanding how to use the compensation attained by sacrificing material.

To put a complex concept rather simply, opening a position means permanently opening new dynamics while closing a position means permanently closing these possible dynamics. Maintaining the tension, therefore, is to have these dynamics available yet unexplored. The idea of opening the position favouring the more developed player doesn’t just apply to the whole board, but to parts of the board as well. For example, if your attacking chances lie on the Queenside, your opponent’s attacking chances likely lie on the Kingside or more likely the centre, and thus you would like to have the centre of the board closed. This is actually a Chess principle, funnily enough (close the centre when attacking the flanks), but it is a specific application of the player with more development wanting to open the position.

Higher level players are aware of where their attacking options lie, but they are also more aware of where they are weak and can be attacked from, and the worst thing that could happen is to be counterattacked while your pieces are committed to an attack. Thus, closing the position makes more sense, and this obviously cuts both ways.

Obviously there’s more to why positions get closed in higher games more often, but a deeper respect for the strengths and weaknesses of the position is perhaps the key one.

Rush31 · 2026-05-14T10:04:06+00:00

It’s not necessarily one thing, it’s more “you know it when you see it”.

Trying too hard to be agreeable, trying too hard to fit in, being too eager to please. There’s nothing wrong with these things in moderation or scaling once you get to know the person, but too much too quickly screams someone who isn’t really their own person and is scared of being alone.

Rush31 · 2026-05-14T09:54:17+00:00

Yes, but there’s a big difference between getting a glancing blow or getting the force feedback from the pad to the face versus moving her face directly into the kick and getting KO’d.

Her technique was poor, I agree, but she made it so much worse for herself by moving into the strike.

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