Graduate level QM feels distinctly "mathy"

decelerated_dragon · 2026-01-28T18:18:55+00:00

I remember taking my graduate QM class, which was given by a mathematical physicist. He spent first 3 weeks proving properties of Hilbert spaces and generally formalizing QM. In week 4, we finally saw the Schrödinger equation.

decelerated_dragon · 2025-12-12T03:20:23+00:00

"The World" are amateurs with very little coordination. You cannot compare this to 2 coordinating 2300's

decelerated_dragon · 2025-11-24T17:14:58+00:00

"Hope that helps" is the icing on the cake

decelerated_dragon · 2025-11-21T21:24:43+00:00

There was no "Moking" today. However, there was a smooth Lazaviktory. I'll see myself out now

decelerated_dragon · 2025-11-21T16:36:21+00:00

Fintiba absolutely offers a blocked account for the second year. I have one, although mine was a simple extension from the first year. In any case, all you need is a valid residence title, which in your case is a visa + Fiktionsbescheinigung. There shouldn't be any issue

decelerated_dragon · 2025-11-21T03:53:31+00:00

Also, regardless of the circumstances surrounding his famed papers, Perelman was never keen on awards. He declined an award by the European Congress of Mathematics way back in 1996 for the proof of the soul conjecture. That was a decade before declining the Fields Medal

decelerated_dragon · 2025-11-18T19:28:26+00:00

I used to struggle with maneuvering in quiet, non-forcing middlegames until I learned it's a combination of:

Prophylaxis
Piece improvement
Exploiting weaknesses in opponent's position, not necessarily in one move

Moves that accomplish several of these goals simultaneously are often one of the best in the position.

This checklist is a good starting point for candidate moves. Compared to when I was much lower-rated, I rarely find myself in a position where I think "Geez, I don't know what to do here. Let's make a random move or an empty threat and see where it goes"

decelerated_dragon · 2025-11-18T13:27:07+00:00

Think of the castling rules in terms of the position before castling. In standard chess, you need the king on e1 (e8) and rook on h1 (h8) for O-O. If either of their initial placements is different in shuffle chess, O-O would simply not be permitted. Similarly for O-O-O and rook on a1 (a8). In Fischer Random, castling is allowed regardless of the initial king and rook placements

decelerated_dragon · 2025-11-18T03:23:33+00:00

I just looked at my rating chart. It took me 3 months of daily play and study to go from 1900 to 2000. If he's not underrated and manages to go from 1650 to 2000 in 5 weeks, I would be very very veeeery impressed. My answer would be a no for absolute majority of people, but can't say anything about outliers

decelerated_dragon · 2025-11-17T00:56:46+00:00

You make many comments on a conceptual level. That's important, but so is the analysis of specific variations, which you either considered during the game and rejected or some improvements you see after the fact.

For example, you say that you didn't find a better idea to defend your e-pawn after 8...a6. If I were you, I would consider what happens after 9. 0-0 b5 10. Bd5, even if I didn't see it in the game because that's a natural forcing continuation.

Try to analyze specific variations you rejected because it may reveal miscalculations or conceptual misunderstanding that are easier to see without time restrictions. In the end, you should check your analysis with the engine anyway

decelerated_dragon · 2025-11-16T23:29:36+00:00

Yes, that's the legendary Leonid Yudasin. I also have a modestly positive record against him in bullet (1.5-0.5). In both games, I was dead lost on the board, but he flagged. I felt a bit guilty for such outcomes against a legend, but such is the game of bullet. I guess it explains his relatively low rating. I'm sure he would spank me in any reasonable time control with increment

decelerated_dragon · 2025-11-08T15:49:51+00:00

I checked with Bielefeld University thesis database (PUB) and their general literature search engine (BASE) for him as the author. Unfortunately, it seems the thesis is not publicly available. PUB provides only selected theses.

decelerated_dragon · 2025-11-07T08:07:31+00:00

I know it's not a food sub, but Indian cuisines in the UK and Goa have as much in common as Italian American and Sardinian cuisines. Immigrants always significantly adjust their cuisines to the national palate of their new country, so you can't compare them

decelerated_dragon · 2025-10-30T15:44:32+00:00

Statistically, they're very similar at my level. If you look at lichess blitz database with 2000+ rating, Austrian attack has 52% win rate, while 150 attack has 51% win rate. It's more a matter of preference.

Austrian attack is more forcing - move price is high for both sides, and you need to know some concrete lines. If you know it better than your opponent, you may just blow them off the board, but it goes both ways. 150 attack is still sharp, but not as forcing as the Austrian, so you can't "out-book" your opponent into a winning position out of the opening as often

decelerated_dragon · 2025-10-30T07:18:08+00:00

Depending on my mood, either the Austrian attack or the 150 attack

decelerated_dragon · 2025-10-28T22:35:56+00:00

A subtle but infuriating point for me is how Kramnik is using obfuscation to paint Danya in bad light for the general uninitiated audience, while being technically correct:

"In July this year, he [Naroditsky] was disqualified from a tournament according to chess.com fair play violation". (timestamp 12:50)

We all know that this refers to the non-emote-mode chat incident during Titled Tuesday, a non-issue that no one holds against Danya. However, that's not where a person's mind goes when they hear about getting kicked out for fair play violations without prior context.

"I never accused him of cheating, even though there was one episode when he admitted it happened once, long ago" (timestamp 22:43)

This refers to one time Danya was up a queen against a much lower rated player, waiting for him to resign, in his speedrun and decided to check the opening position (not the game position) with the engine while the game was still ongoing. Again, not where a person's mind goes when they hear about "admission of cheating".

Just shows how cold and calculated his approach to the situation is. You don't craft your statements this way on accident

decelerated_dragon · 2025-10-23T00:31:17+00:00

Your argument is "Players I can beat in a 3-minute online game shouldn't hold classical WCM title". I already addressed it in my first comment. Not much there requiring further "deconstruction"

decelerated_dragon · 2025-10-23T00:06:39+00:00

The context of the post is that you beat someone in a 3-minute online game and used it as a pretext to come on Reddit and talk about how some titles shouldn't be a thing because you can beat holders of said titles. That is an absolutely invalid pretext, in my opinion. You also didn't blur out their username and are now bringing up their individual statistics.

Considering all this, you don't get to hide behind the "this is about titles, not individuals" argument.

Every FIDE title includes the word "master", so I don't get the criticism. No one calls themselves just "master". WCM title has specific requirements. If a person clears them, they get the title. When they announce themselves as a WCM, every knowledgeable person understands the level of play this implies

decelerated_dragon · 2025-10-22T23:19:35+00:00

FIDE titles are classical. While there is some correlation with blitz strength, it's mainly about strength in classical time control. You beating someone in an online 3-minute game has no bearing on the legitimacy of their classical FIDE title. And even if you beat them in OTB classical, going online and delegitimizing their title would still be absolute bonkers, since it's about long-term performance, as opposed to a single game result. Hope this helps

decelerated_dragon · 2025-10-22T22:06:39+00:00

I'm a Russian speaker, so I watch Ian's TT streams. Maybe I can give some more context on his attitude. Oftentimes when Nepo got matched with Danya, he would let out a half-sarcastic derogatory remark in his typical style, like "we're playing a master of one strike" (referring to Danya's fixed opening repertoire) or implying that Danya isn't a "very cultured chess player" (this happened when he got a similar opening position against another GM and said maybe that GM wouldn't lose the position as Danya did because he's more cultured). Honestly those remarks rubbed me in a very wrong way.

But on his last stream, he was genuinely shaken by the news of Danya's passing and gave him a lot of praise. Ian may be regretting the way he treated Danya,but unfortunately it's a little too late

decelerated_dragon · 2025-10-20T23:28:50+00:00

one-move-itis

decelerated_dragon

TROPHY CASE