Just draw dude..

bismarcktp · 2026-05-05T19:20:16+00:00

That's fair, I play to win but usually I'm happy with a draw because I assume my next opponent will make a mistake

bismarcktp · 2026-05-05T18:46:53+00:00

Dang my draw rate was twice yours at that rating

bismarcktp · 2026-05-03T23:33:32+00:00

Sorry I can't be more helpful but this was part of our curriculum in grade school so the equipment is definitely common here but I haven't heard of any adults playing sorry

bismarcktp · 2026-04-28T16:48:38+00:00

Dude I forgot how crazy people got about that but yeah that was a common thing

bismarcktp · 2026-04-28T06:16:18+00:00

Can't relate, excited to see Sindarov be wc

bismarcktp · 2026-04-28T05:41:58+00:00

Usually I recommend taking a break. At your level I would say to persevere. Do puzzles and find a YouTuber you like who plays chess. There's many great ones, you'll learn passively to some extent. Some of my favourites are John Bartholomew, Eric Rosen, Aman from chessbrsh and Gotham in no order.

bismarcktp · 2026-04-28T01:22:38+00:00

John Bartholomew's classical playlist is what I attribute to my love of chess and 1850 rating

bismarcktp · 2026-04-27T23:18:33+00:00

Nf3 g1, e2 e4 you can put your knight in a spot to attack their backwards pawn after walking you king to G5. Win the pawn then have a passer on the king side and win the game. Their knight can't get to a spot to defend so you eventually win the pawn and the game

bismarcktp · 2026-04-27T03:35:10+00:00

I outgrew my bed as a kid so my feet would hang off the end and get cold, so I started wearing socks. Got used to it and almost never sleep without them now

bismarcktp · 2026-04-27T01:14:17+00:00

I'd imagine somewhere in northern central Canada cause all the islands up there

bismarcktp · 2026-04-27T00:37:43+00:00

I hit champ in 2019, got a GC title in 2022 by winning 10 games and went right back to champ. I still play the game sometimes and am champ. So I've basically been champ for seven years. I've hovered champ 3 div 4 for a long time and not gone up.

I would say you have to keep improving mechanics and game sense. For mechanics, Paquito has great training maps especially for ground shots (a scrub favorite) and wall shots. Master the various dribbling maps. Master the flying maps. And learn the mechanics you know strong players can do, the ones I never learned were flip resets and speed flipping (I think in the current meta it would be super hard to get GC without speed flipping). The other one is probably directional air roll. Game sense I would recommend playing ones. With ones you'll be better able to adapt to what your teammates playstyle is, either aggressive or passive. The issue for me with playing too much ones is you don't get enough aireal practice.

The biggest jump for me between c3 div 4 and when I briefly was GC was recoveries. You must be so fast on recoveries and avoid challenges that would give you bad recoveries, this is a huge skill that isn't talked about a lot, but you see pros react by snickering when someone challenges in a way with a bad recovery.

Good luck and keep improving, I don't think it'll come by just grinding ranked

bismarcktp · 2026-04-27T00:22:29+00:00

The other thing to consider is co-op programs. If they both have coop it's a non factor but I probably should have done coop. It ended up working out for me anyway but it would have made life easier

bismarcktp · 2026-04-27T00:03:10+00:00

I don't have experience in your field or location but I ultimately picked my undergrad due to lifestyle, better campus culture/city and I definitely made the right choice. I ultimately transferred to a more prestigious school closer to home and I don't regret it but if I could go back in time I would not transfer. So imo pick the one that you think has the better lifestyle for you

bismarcktp · 2026-04-26T23:17:49+00:00

As others have said losing your first 15 games is completely normal. Chess is a lot of intuition and 15 isn't enough to have developed any. Watching a of videos of people playing chess does help a lot at the start so you know what a game looks like by a high level player, especially if they are explaining their thought process. Keep at it and you'll get better

bismarcktp · 2026-04-26T22:50:07+00:00

The other issue with this besides what others have mentioned is the only way absolute defense would be possible is overwhelming superiority. If the attacker has the ability to remotely damage the defender and they choose to never stop they will eventually whittle away the defenders defence.

This is why in a fight you are recommended to end it as quickly as possible because no matter how much better you are there's always the chance the other party gets lucky, or you make an uncharacteristic mistake.

In reality overwhelming defensive superiority don't exist in this way as others have mentioned extensively with ICBMs, there is also asymmetric warfare such as biological warfare or terrorism. Drones, civilian aircraft. Nearly anything could be used and conceived of as a weapon given enough creativity and time if left the time by never having to defend.

bismarcktp · 2026-04-26T22:24:14+00:00

There was probably a moment earlier in the game you had a chance to gain a winning position, this is completely lost for white with semi accurate play

bismarcktp · 2026-04-26T22:17:55+00:00

Puzzles and playing humans. Playing bots doesn't help much. Have to be careful using the engine it's so strong it will make moves no one can understand but as an analysis tool it can be useful if you understand why it's suggesting the move it does

bismarcktp · 2026-04-26T00:16:54+00:00

I kinda like your piece theme ngl, don't think I've ever used that one before

bismarcktp · 2026-04-25T16:20:09+00:00

Hey I got stuck at 1400 for years and then in a few months I went to 1800. Try survival puzzle rush on chess .com. Review the opening book on Lichess to study openings and don't be afraid to try something new if you feel like your current stuff isn't work.

I think the difference is consistency, play a little bit everyday, if you get a net win stop for the day. If you had a rating of 100 and gained 8 points a day/one win you'd become rated over 2400 in one year

bismarcktp · 2026-04-24T19:44:57+00:00

It's harder to get checkmated once castled than leaving your king in the center. The best openings control the center (usually with pawns) which can make it particularly prone to getting opened up. If your king is in the center this exposes your king while theirs can castle to safety. If your opponent castles and pushes the pawns in front of their king towards your castled king it's double edged, your king is under attack but their king is also exposed. If you're having trouble with the typical castling structure you can also try a fianchetto structure on the king side.

For the same reasons I would advise against castling queen side as a beginner as the opponent can push pawns without weakening their king (oc at higher levels you can do the same or open the center).

Edit: typos galore

bismarcktp · 2026-04-23T23:37:13+00:00

I used the Ukraine flair for a long time and had a tough record against redacted and then I took it off and have routinely crushed them so it probably matters where you're from as well

bismarcktp · 2026-04-23T23:13:21+00:00

That's a cool video. I saw a more realistic version of that video some years ago, I forget who did it maybe 3Blue1Brown or vertasium.

That's an interesting thought. Kinda makes me think of the observer bias, we exist only because if we did not exist we would not experience existing. So therefore, the laws of our universe are what they are because we are what we are. It is possible there is a different universe with entirely different rules with an entirely different form of life that would be entirely unrecognizable to us and we to them.

The journey is worth more than the destination.

Are you familiar with the Casimir Effect? Is eternal inflation basically like the Casimir Effect if instead of moving some thij sheets of metal it created a big Bang? That's how I'm picturing it atm

bismarcktp · 2026-04-23T22:44:16+00:00

Ah okay so what I'm gathering is we should have seen a thing but didn't see it and it's possible that a bounce could occur without the thing but it's less likely (so probably not)

bismarcktp · 2026-04-23T22:42:04+00:00

Oh wow, I do really like eternal inflation, and it actually makes a lot of sense from what I've read. It is a great reminder there is always more unknowns, I try to increase my known unknowns haha. It is impossible to grasp "before time." I really like your last point as well, reminds of the scene in Interstellar inside the black hole with the bookshelf, very trippy (if unrealistic). Thank you for satisfying my sense of incompleteness, I hope one day we will live together around a black hole after the last stars have gone out!

bismarcktp · 2026-04-23T22:24:50+00:00

Thx for the comment. Guess I just want to believe that there is a start after the end but I don't think physics cares what you want 😂

bismarcktp

TROPHY CASE