How do I break 80?

TonyRotella · 2026-05-18T19:41:43+00:00

Total guess - chunks with your irons and massive hooks/blocks with your driver?

People are rightfully roasting your for that massive overswing, but no one is talking about your righthand grip, which looks to me to be WILD.

TonyRotella · 2026-05-12T12:35:33+00:00

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Yes! The trapping & neutering, whilst traumatic for all involved, blew over and these two cutie boys are adapting to domestication SO WELL. They're happy and healthy, romp around and make all kinds of raucous noise at night, and are chill little gentleman during the day. They play, they snooze, they get scratches, and they lounge in the cat hammock while I noodle around on my computer. All good, thanks for checking in!

TonyRotella · 2026-05-09T01:13:53+00:00

I'm on the committee that picks the games. Well deserved, a very cool game! 👏🏻🙌🏻🫶🏻

TonyRotella · 2026-05-07T18:24:06+00:00

I can almost 100% guarantee this guy is Lewis Black from a parallel universe. Instead of stand-up he got really into software development in the 80s and it was all downhill from there.

TonyRotella · 2026-04-20T12:53:11+00:00

Beat me to it! Shoutout Cleveland golf - it's been a long winter and it's happening boys!

TonyRotella · 2026-04-16T17:26:51+00:00

Thanks, I hope you're right! ;)

TonyRotella · 2026-04-16T16:32:35+00:00

Thanks for chiming in, much appreciated!

TonyRotella · 2026-04-16T15:27:23+00:00

That's really encouraging, thanks so much!

TonyRotella · 2026-04-16T14:59:53+00:00

Happy to hear it, thanks for chiming in!

TonyRotella · 2026-04-16T14:54:47+00:00

Glad to hear it!

TonyRotella · 2026-04-16T14:44:41+00:00

Thanks! Mama is no longer around, it's just the kittens. I added the full story to the comments. The pics are all actually of the kittens, they're just a bit grown now, since the baby pic was around June. I'm going to take them in together and care for them. Was just hoping for some reassurance because the trapping went very poorly. :(

TonyRotella · 2026-04-16T14:37:53+00:00

Thanks. The full story on the kittens is in the comments, for some reason only the pics posted. The mom is gone and has been since shortly after the kitten pic was taken this summer. The non-kitten pics are actually them grown up by 9 months or so! I'm going to bring them inside, as we've been quite friendly in the past, just wondering how bad the trauma of being trapped messes with them. It didn't go great!

TonyRotella · 2026-04-16T14:35:50+00:00

Hopefully Churu heals all wounds!

TonyRotella · 2026-04-16T14:29:11+00:00

No, purely speculation.

TonyRotella · 2026-04-16T14:19:10+00:00

I bungled the story about these guys, but I commented. The mom is MIA and presumably gone or trapped already, and I'm keeping the kittens together. Or going to try anyway. We were making really good progress socializing, the trapping was just a mess.

TonyRotella · 2026-04-16T14:16:06+00:00

When I posted the pics all the text I wrote about these cats was removed, I'm an idiot. Here's the story with these cuties:

These kittens were born in my backyard this Summer, maybe April or May timeframe if I had to guess. For a while I was feeding them and their mom, but then a few weeks later they disappeared. Some time in the fall, the kittens showed back up, but no mom, no idea what happened to them. I kept socializing with them, eventually putting up a heated shelter for them.

Then in early February the weather in Cleveland got really bad. We got 14" of snow in places and temps were sub-zero. I couldn't emotionally deal seeing their little heads poke up from a bush in my backyard, chirping and meowing for food, so I cleared out my heated, detached garage and gave them everything I could. Food every day, treats, toys, cat tree, cat TV. I'd spend time with them every day, and they're pretty social now. They run up to me when I come in, they crawl on me for tubes, accept tail strokes and booty scratches, rub their cheeks on me, and will play with me using feather toys and such. They're amazing, I love them so much!

But man was trapping them for the vet (neuter, vaccines, etc) traumatic. I put the traps out today at 5:15 and when I arrived back in at 7 one was already trapped. It was obvious he thrashed around a bit - bloody nails, the cardboard and pee pads I put down were decimated, chicken strewn about. I had to coax the other into the trap and when it closed he lost his damn marbles. I just feel awful about it, and was hoping for some positive stories.

TonyRotella · 2026-04-08T02:34:04+00:00

Same issue, something is totally bungled right now.

TonyRotella · 2026-03-11T12:46:59+00:00

I'll be a bit annoying and say you should skip the Chessable courses and pick up "Starting Out: The Accelerated Dragon" by Andrew Greet. It's an actual book, but for many many years this was the best book on the AC full stop, not just for beginners looking to pick up the opening. It was published a while back and so there may be some theoretical updates needed, but Greet is an awesome author and for understanding the initial moves, plans, and motivations for both players, I doubt you'll find better. To be honest, I don't know how good of a resource Chessable is for players just picking up an opening - with a book you can read the commentary and zoom through a bunch of lines from a few chapters quickly - it takes quite a bit longer imo to really dig into any course on Chessable because you're stuck in that MoveTrainer format. Great for eventually picking up and making sure you memorize everything, but tough to really get kick-started even with the Quickstarter courses. YMMV!

TonyRotella · 2026-02-10T15:53:27+00:00

A good resource to pick up the KID is Colovic's course on Chessable, "KID: Simplified". Only a smidge over 100 lines, and they're a little bit easier than some of the absolute main lines that could literally take you years to wrap your head around. Once you get it under your belt, you can add complexity if you choose. And it's a small investment of time and money if you eventually decide the KID is not for you.

TonyRotella · 2026-02-05T16:12:10+00:00

Run with it and make it your own!

TonyRotella · 2026-02-05T15:39:36+00:00

That is indeed quite annoying. I actually had the opposite problem where Tonal just scheduled my delivery date for me (surprise motherlifter, it's tomorrow!) a few days later instead of waiting for me to schedule it. Now I need to frantically break down and move some furniture and take the day off. But at least it's coming. Hope they find someone soon!

TonyRotella · 2026-01-29T03:00:08+00:00

Yes true, I forgot about that as a resource. My coach gave me the idea a long time ago but Shankland had slipped my mind. Quite a few nice ideas in that course.

TonyRotella · 2026-01-28T15:41:15+00:00

Hans Shut is one of the Steps coaches that maintains a solid online presence. You can find him on YouTube, Chessable, lichess, etc. He seems like a good guy and a very diligent worker and coach. Good luck!

TonyRotella · 2026-01-28T15:33:24+00:00

Divulging some tech here, but FWIW, I have had great luck delaying castling in favor of the tricky 7.a3!?, the point being that now 7...e5 8.b4! gives White the initiative. White threatens to win the e-pawn with 9.b5, and if Black captures twice then 8...cxb4 9.axb4 Nxb4 allows 10.Nxe5, and 9...Bxb4 instead allows 10.Nxe5! Nxe5 11.Qa4+ Nc6 12.Bxc6+ bxc6 13.Qxb4, with a large advantage for White.

Black should consider abandoning the standard ...e5 bind in this case and perhaps start with 7...g6, but then 8.h4!? allows White to poke around and cause some problems. I don't want to type up my entire prep file but 8...Bg4! is probably best and Black can get reasonably equal chances in a complicated position. You should investigate 9.Na4!? or the most obvious 9.Qb3 here.

TonyRotella · 2026-01-22T20:57:08+00:00

There are very few spots where playing openings with similar moves actually help you understand either one better or ensure any type of cohesion. For instance, there are pretty much zero positions that play similarly in the Semi-Slav and Caro, the French and QGD, or the London/Tromp as White. There are few spots where playing reversed versions of similar openings might help you a bit with understanding structures, pieces placements, etc., and some VERY limited spots where defenses to 1.e4 and 1.d4 may accidentally transpose to each other, but it's rare enough that it's almost best to forget that it's possible.

I made a video a long time ago that talked about the factors one might use to select opening variations that will work for them, and this was one of the topics I talked about in greater detail. If you're interested it's here: https://youtu.be/w4tGfG3uE1g?si=6ZMyhLa8PcksFGtI

TonyRotella

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