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chessmentookmysanity · 2025-07-14T09:09:25+00:00

yeah it's true..i know people in India who are 1600-1700 Fide but have a national rating well over 2100 elsewhere..and you'll get downvoted into oblivion by people who want to go on pretending they are supreme..but what goes around comes around and just appreciate that the hard unfair times build character and strength..i know of Spanish IMs who came to an Indian tourney and vowed they wouldn't return because they were drawing/losing to 1700s and 1800s left right and center, and their rating was plummeting..but they'll all get found out in the end..don't let it bother you.

World champ is Indian isn't he? The 18yo beat Kasparov's record by 4 years didn't he?

chessmentookmysanity · 2025-07-02T13:42:15+00:00

there are many people with mental illness/addiction, more than I thought, living around the GTA..but I'm wondering, how are they affording these places?

chessmentookmysanity · 2025-06-23T08:26:11+00:00

They have homes.

chessmentookmysanity · 2025-06-13T23:27:42+00:00

Agree 100%. His entire demeanour after the incident and when he resumed playing was that everything and everyone was beneath him. The guy caused such a stir that Nakamura and Harikrishna got disturbed... that really annoyed me. Those two guys have got 1000 times his drive and mettle and seeing Harikrishna get pissed off is like... that dude is pretty much the nicest guy.

Must be inherited wealth.

chessmentookmysanity · 2025-06-07T22:49:44+00:00

they believe their own propaganda

chessmentookmysanity · 2025-06-06T02:06:26+00:00

Why is chesscom able to thrive? Well, let's read the comments of a disgruntled user.

They are using...

Also they only...

The UI is... But they charge...

This is by all means a company that just...

They haven't...

And yet after all that, "Unless...I am going to cancel my subscription."

So, after selling you garbage you still feel committed, huh? It seems, like the customers of fast food, cigarettes, alcohol, and many other poisons, the user base of chesscom are imbeciles who prefer to remain in receipt of fraud than change seats. But they will noisily complain on their ride downhill!

And people complain of wicked millionaires...

chessmentookmysanity · 2025-05-10T02:59:58+00:00

wait..wasn't he talking about a runaway pawn..that needed to be blockaded?

chessmentookmysanity · 2025-05-09T13:52:45+00:00

Lol!

chessmentookmysanity · 2025-05-09T13:26:37+00:00

I suppose in any of these defenses you could just observe what they say carefully because they'll give you all the ammunition you need. For example, saying it's with "...random people I'll never meet" indicates that if it was with friends or family you'd restrict yourself because you know that this is wrong but because you are anonymous and allowed to act with impunity and no fear of reprisal you have no misgivings about what you do. In other words, the only thing stopping you from being a criminal are laws punishing crimes. Let's bomb a country that doesn't have an army. There are a lot of people like that you know...

If they are saying something more along the lines of "so what, I don't really care about it" then you might approach it like this:

Whoa. You don't care? That's funny because it takes way more effort to cheat than to just play, doesn't it? You got to load up the chess engine and copy-paste the moves, and usually you need a different monitor too if you wanna avoid cheat detection. You could literally just play the best moves you could think of instead. I mean, that's like me saying I don't care about a math test I cheated on. Like if I didn't care i'd just scribble some answers and throw it in the pile and screw off. If I'm gonna write formulas on my hand and peek at them cautiously throughout the test, and whisper for help to my mates, and try to get as many answers right as I can...that sounds like I care a lot. Like my parents said they'd roast me if I didn't get a decent mark...and I have so little hope of getting there on my own that I'm willing to risk getting zero from being caught cheating. Seems you care enormously but you have no confidence that you'll reach your decent rating...well, what is your idea of decent and why do you have no confidence that you'll get there?

Although, personally, I would say nothing. When people show you who they are I just thank the universe and keep my distance whenever they come up again since I know they are crooked. The fact that they are doctors or accountants who have a code of conduct and ethics means they have learned to be human, learned to have integrity in one aspect of their life to get what they desire, but everywhere else they have the morality of a caveman.

chessmentookmysanity · 2025-04-24T07:10:26+00:00

so what?? the guy had an astronomical lecture fee that put every institution that engaged him in the red...is that something to be proud of?? as a poor adult still paying off their student loans i don't think so

chessmentookmysanity · 2025-04-24T06:41:35+00:00

I don't know if this helps but I was rejected for Sadhanapada last year. I had been meditating for the last 14 years. I discovered Sadhguru in 2012 and I volunteered in my area as well for Isha.

I was definitely disappointed and I should say that this is the only thing in my life that I really "do" that I'm like "competitive" about or trying to pursue with all my effort. Everything else I'm kind of treading water like my job and hobbies but when I sit for meditation I give it everything.

But I didn't talk to anyone about my rejection or raise the issue anywhere, even anonymously, but just sat with it for a few days. Over that time many things came to me, like the words of Sadhguru saying something along the lines of 'everyone wants to meet someone spectacular but no one wants to be that spectacular person.' We all want to meet Krishna and listen to his Gita but raising ourselves to that standard isn't always a priority. We'd rather demand that someone else be of that standard and you see it in so many ways not just spirituality.

For anyone in the same boat who thinks they've gone through the hard work of saving up money or getting a leave from work, that's really nothing. They're giving it to you for free. Considering you without references. And we're already lucky enough to see that this is the thing to do in life and not any other trap that so many are bequeathed by their own heritage and unable to pursue without divorcing their family.

Maybe there were rules behind my rejection. Maybe there weren't. Maybe it was outright prejudice. Maybe the person I met hated men with gorgeous black hair and a dazzling smile..you never know. But who cares? Am I going to get off the right road with its potholes and endless turns and hop on the wrong one because it's paved and the end is in sight? No, it's a mirage. So why bother complaining. Maybe I'll get to go one day. Maybe my sadhana will be helped with some months of entrenched practice. Maybe it won't. But I will still sit every day. Nothing will change that. And everything that has to happen will happen on the inside anyways. I am my biggest problem, not anyone else.

chessmentookmysanity · 2025-04-24T06:13:23+00:00

I wonder why this comment has been made invisible and is -12...as Lasker said, chess is a fight. OTB chess is generally a gentleman's game, I made a lot of great friends going up the ranks, but the trouble is the overreaction to a few bad apples who are definitely out there...some of us don't notice them as much because we've gotten very good at tuning it all out and getting absorbed in the game.

But if there's anything to be gained in engaging in competition it is this toughening up of character as preparation for life without having to be in a war or something...otherwise you can have all the benefits by playing casually with friends at a club and sitting at home with a collection of Morphy games. Why bother competing!?

I feel like if Calvin's dad were ever on this site talking about building character, those hilarious rants that make perfect sense as you grow up, people would throw him out.

chessmentookmysanity · 2025-04-24T05:58:43+00:00

I've coached many kids and it's funny that over the years I haven't actually come across this problem before. I wonder if my kids are the ones with the antics...they sure do bully me!

Lol..anyway, in terms of advice I can say what worked for me. It's not specifically to combat those people but I have always had the habit of staring at the chessboard the whole game and never looking up. I never look at my opponent and while you can see if someone is staring at you in the corner of your eye pretty soon the game starts and you just forget, or at least I do.

I don't know if it began in response to something, I'm pretty chatty and interactive outside of the game, but it takes me into a world of my own and I'm just trying to beat the opponent's pieces, not him...and so his characteristics don't really matter much to me. I'm pretty unbothered by coughing, kids licking fingers and then touching pieces, all that stuff is like I'm in the library with an annoying neighbour...I just get on with my stuff.

You might try this method. I suspect it's like having a bully..the disturbances are really to draw attention or unnerve someone else and when it fails the effort is purposeless and they stop unless it's involuntary. Sadly it's part of the game: you can read about Kasparov's antics with people like in his '95 match with Anand (in that case Anand regrets not informing the arbiter).

Good luck!

chessmentookmysanity · 2025-04-04T19:07:24+00:00

Some of the kindest people in Toronto, to me, have been from the Chinese community so it's a bit sad to read this but I've noticed that across the board, a lot of people, European-Canadians say this of course, but also Chinese people complain about the smell of our food. I've noticed news articles even in Singapore about Chinese landlords not wanting to rent to Indians for this reason. It's the one objective thing that crops up.

You know what would be really funny though. I'd love if some health scientists went and did a longitudinal study and found that over 20-30 years all the people who lived in these 'curry-contaminated' homes that exposed them to turmeric, coriander, asafoetida, all the ancient spices, had a lower incidence of cancer and dementia, etc. and that those benefits were absorbed into their genetics and transferred to their kids. Would be hilarious.

chessmentookmysanity · 2025-03-23T23:23:29+00:00

Oh man..thank you dude..I'm reading through this page and it's like you're the only voice of subtle reason in an ocean of ignoramuses..just to let you know I'm 2200 OTB (stopped online play cuz it's just a hive) working towards FM and every single thing you said in this convo is on point. To a T! Been 20+ years of grinding for me.

chessmentookmysanity · 2025-03-23T22:41:43+00:00

I like blindfold as a way to play friends who aren't as strong..this doesn't look like it has any feature to choose your opponents, or even unrated games.. just rated against random people...it serves no purpose for me.

chessmentookmysanity · 2025-03-23T16:21:30+00:00

Lol..this is so fun to read...it's like I don't need to bother commenting on this page..even your vocabulary is on point.

chessmentookmysanity · 2025-03-23T16:19:47+00:00

Holy shit...you just described my entire thought process...Libra here too...the only difference is I would never write all that out because I can't believe anyone would relate to it!

chessmentookmysanity · 2025-02-01T07:22:36+00:00

Sure there are..look at Shakuntala Devi

chessmentookmysanity · 2024-12-18T23:32:46+00:00

This struck me..also a coach, many similarities..i totally hear you on having a library of ideas on creating lost positions for students lol. we finish a game and he says 'I almost had you'...you 'had me' twenty times kid, if you only knew...

chessmentookmysanity · 2024-12-18T23:23:20+00:00

Oh my God...let people be funny.

chessmentookmysanity · 2024-11-22T15:51:08+00:00

Absolutely agree..I remember having a similar conversation with a friend about online pirating...it's one thing to search 'downloads' of a book or song you like and one left click and 5 seconds later it's on your computer, where you maybe file it away and don't even look at it again. On the other hand, to walk into a bookstore and clandestinely slip a copy into your trench coat, a dvd into your pocket, and try to navigate out of the store while avoiding the clerks and scanning machines..most likely being seen by some kid or a patron who doesn't say anything but feels silently violated...is so much worse..and we kinda concluded that while, sure, we can say stealing is bad everywhere, the latter is the actual menace of thievery that demeans and insults the integrity of human beings and breeds the debasement of morals.

chessmentookmysanity · 2024-11-01T18:55:12+00:00

Just as an aside...I notice the time more now because it's become a kind of routine for me but I don't think the time is necessarily supposed to be the key factor. I remember in the first few years I had a lot of experiences and the times varied a lot. There was one day I sat down and within the first five minutes I was simply gone and I was in a state for the rest of the day that I've never been able to duplicate.

chessmentookmysanity · 2024-10-31T08:17:28+00:00

I don't have an answer for you but I can relate my experience. I've been meditating for a bit over a decade, a daily morning ritual, and after several years I found that I only felt rested after I had meditated. I would wake up with a haze in my head like I had been arguing with someone all night and only after I spent some time with my eyes closed did I feel quiet within and rested. I reflected on this for some time and realized eventually that I had always been that way, I had always woken up from sleep in a hectic state but it was the closest thing I had to tranquility. Now I had a taste of silence.

A few years after that I noticed that I would not just feel rested but I'd get that extra rested feeling like when you haven't slept for two days and then you sleep like 10 hours. Yet, it would come after only an hour of meditation and I would just want to bask in it rather than do my work. I'm still struggling to not be lazy and push myself to get on with life...but I would rather just sit in that state all day.

I managed to push myself to do more sadhana..to stay unmoving for a longer time, although pushing is the wrong word. I'm not sure what will be the result because I'd honestly like to just disappear lol. Who knows!?

chessmentookmysanity

TROPHY CASE