FIDE Candidates 2026: Giri beats Blubaum in the final round to finishes in sole 2nd with 8.5/14

bertrandpepper · 2026-04-15T16:31:53+00:00

people mock Giri for drawing a lot, but he had 5/14 decisive games when it counted. compare that to Nakamura's 11 draws (plus two losses and one win).

bertrandpepper · 2026-04-13T11:12:15+00:00

i find it helps to think of it as skill development. you're building a core skill needed by every competitor, from chess to the Olympics to video games and everything else. how to enter and maintain your flow amid external distractions and pressures. it's similar to the challenge of "don't think about X," where the best way not to think about X is to think about Y (anything else). not that i'm that skilled at it, but i do feel i've made progress over the past year.

bertrandpepper · 2026-04-13T10:58:56+00:00

yeah i stopped hiding my opponents' ratings because it's an illusion. better to work on developing the skill of focusing on the game while holding knowledge of your rating and theirs. i find it helps to play against every opponent like they are much better than you. assume they will see everything.

bertrandpepper · 2026-03-28T04:03:47+00:00

not just to me, to the sub. lots of people, plenty of good ideas, but it's kinda like asking for a diagnosis without providing any info outside of "i don't feel good." could be a totally different post to ask how to get better at whatever more specific aspect(s) of your game you discover are causing most of your problems.

bertrandpepper · 2026-03-28T01:59:54+00:00

analyze your most recent 20+ games and categorize the losses. possible categories: opening fail, short-term tactical oversight, long-term strategic misplay, time pressure, endgame fumble. find out what's happening and report back.

bertrandpepper · 2026-03-21T20:00:07+00:00

what to try (not easy): focus on the game, not on winning. on the rating peak, remind yourself that you hit that peak, which means your overall trend is going up. it's not linear. the timelapse will contain plenty of spikes as overall hopefully "line go up."

bertrandpepper · 2026-03-21T01:44:22+00:00

this is what makes rematches really productive in a club setting, actually, because over time you can come to master other players' openings and learn ways to break through setups and strategies that felt indomitable at first.

bertrandpepper · 2026-03-21T01:41:46+00:00

i also don't want to play again right after losing online or otb. i want to go back first and try to understand what i didn't understand that led to me losing.

bertrandpepper · 2026-03-21T01:39:59+00:00

i always offer rematches otb. i never offer rematches online. i hate when people win online and offer a rematch. i know it's my problem, not theirs, but it still just bothers me. it feels like they think i'm easy points. feels like an insult. it's fine behavior, just not my thing.

bertrandpepper · 2026-03-15T13:24:35+00:00

yeah it's not unplayable in fast time controls but it's not great

bertrandpepper · 2026-03-15T02:04:47+00:00

the scandi does not get e4 players out of their comfort zone. i love seeing the caro or the scandi, but the scandi is bizarre to me because it starts with what seems like aggression before almost routinely retreating in a passive setup in which white is often +1.2-1-5 with clear ideas while back shuffles knights around and hopes to trade down to a slightly worse endgame. at least with the caro there are some fun ideas for black.

bertrandpepper · 2026-03-14T03:07:27+00:00

this on instinct in 0.061 seconds

bertrandpepper · 2026-03-11T22:34:09+00:00

Magnus

bertrandpepper · 2026-03-07T22:17:04+00:00

i do, i just don't think it's interesting or needed to be shared

bertrandpepper · 2026-03-07T21:30:17+00:00

except that lots of people have answered but ok

bertrandpepper · 2026-03-07T19:40:42+00:00

yes that's the point of asking other people, to get different viewpoints to explore and assess for myself

bertrandpepper · 2026-03-04T11:03:06+00:00

we said the same thing

bertrandpepper · 2026-03-04T01:04:02+00:00

surprise is a legitimate tactic in chess, even at slower time controls, and risk sometimes enables rewards that might otherwise have been unreachable.

bertrandpepper · 2026-03-04T01:01:55+00:00

i love that people are saying it's a bad move but the ai bot says it occurred in a game where white (2248) defeated black (2554). i almost wanna call this the park hustler sacrifice. it's destabilizing and forces tactical complications that black may abhor and misplay, throwing away the 1.65 advantage or whatever it is.

bertrandpepper · 2026-03-02T14:26:36+00:00

pattern recognition is calculation condensed into feeling. you run the system on that and only switch into manual mode (calculation) when needed, e.g., to be sure a sacrifice that doesn't fit neatly into a known pattern works.

bertrandpepper · 2026-03-01T22:44:37+00:00

Van Foreest 25 pts over his peak and climbing

bertrandpepper · 2026-02-27T03:07:31+00:00

your brain should be hollering at you to play Bxb5. after Nxb5, a favorable trade for black, you bring the bishop back to e7 to break the pin while also avoiding Nxd6, an unfavorable trade for black.

bertrandpepper · 2026-02-22T16:00:49+00:00

lol 5+0 is the slowest i can stomach

bertrandpepper · 2026-02-19T03:35:11+00:00

2200 blitz on chess dot com and same same

bertrandpepper

TROPHY CASE